Digital pollution: Why your design and development decisions could be killing the planet

Tech teams hold a lot of power when it comes to making waves to cull digital pollution. Charlotte Walsh will discuss practical and successful methods to help shape your development, innovation and technology strategy into one that’s aware of its carbon footprint.

There’s a Co2 price tag to every digital move we make. Sending emails, charging our phones, tweeting, scrolling, checking Instagram. It all requires energy. Ovo reported that if every Brit sent one less ‘thank you’ email a day, we could save the equivalent carbon emissions of 81,000 return flights to Madrid.

For businesses, this is seriously amplified. The global data centres required to power the internet emit roughly 1bn tonnes of Co2 per year – that’s more than the aviation industry in 2019. In fact, if the internet were a country, it would be the sixth largest polluter in the world.

This is called digital pollution. And we need to do something about it.

If the past few months have taught us one thing, it’s that we do not need to build less technology, but make digital processes better, smarter and more efficient. In a world where the ‘new normal’ seems to be all we can talk about, our dependence on technology and its ability to bring connection and joy cannot go unnoticed. But what if we brought sustainable technology choices into the conversation earlier? To build, design, manage, create from the ground up in a way that prevents digital pollution, and leads to a more sustainable future.

This is exactly the message from humanity-led digital product agency, Digital Detox, who have founded the Green Report; the tool to track, control and cut digital waste within large organisations. Its most recent partnership saved 79,000kg carbon – that’s the equivalent of driving nearly 200,000 miles – and ~$1 million opex related to sustainable alternatives across culture, cloud, code and customer.
This talk will delve deeper into their top starter-tips to get cracking on culling your digital pollution.

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