Website emissions
Our carbon footprint
Given the scale and urgency of the climate crisis, COFRA has adopted a climate strategy which includes substantive and concrete steps to reduce emissions in line with the science.
The internet has a significant carbon footprint. With this in mind, COFRA has designed, built and hosted this website to ensure we minimise unnecessary carbon emissions. We intend to measure and regularly report on the emissions from this website, with the aim of reducing its carbon footprint over time.
Some of the measures we have taken to minimise this website’s emissions include the following:
1. Optimised images
To reduce the size of the website (along with load time and energy consumption) images have been reduced in size by using WebP format which efficiently compresses images.
2. Content Delivery Network (CDN)
We are using a Content Delivery Network to help distribute the load of the website, reducing the energy consumed by the server. This also improves the user experience because the CDN reduces the time it takes for the website to load.
3. Carbon-neutral cloud hosting
We host this site with Microsoft Azure, which has been 100% carbon neutral since 2012 and will be run on 100% renewable energy by 2025. Microsoft Azure allows detailed, regular reports which accurately calculate the amount of carbon produced by websites.
We intend to regularly calculate and report the amount of carbon produced by this website, along with the measures we are taking to reduce emissions over time.
4. Minimal use of plugins
We have carefully considered the use of plugins, which slow down websites and consume more energy. Plugins have only been installed where they are really needed and we will continue to review this.
5. Enabled browser caching
Browser caching has been enabled which allows users to store this website in their browser, reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred every time a website visit is made. This reduces energy consumption.
6. Responsive design
We have used responsive design which allows this website to adjust the layout to fit the screen of whichever device users have. This further reduces the amount of data being transferred, and therefore energy consumption.
7. Minimal use of JavaScript
JavaScript can improve functionality, but can consume relatively high amounts of energy. We have used JavaScript sparingly on this website and only when necessary.
8. Continually improving SEO
Serving the right information the first time, reduces the amount of carbon emissions generated by each page load on the website. We have tried to present content of relevance and quality to visitors, to maximise the performance of the pages across the website. As organic search also drives website traffic, we have also optimised the meta-descriptions on pages to further improve findability.
Our climate strategy is heavily focused on reducing emissions through validated science-based targets. However, as we implement these reductions, we offset any residual emissions – including those from this website - through verified high-quality offset projects that maximise climate, socio-economic and ecological benefits for local communities and ecosystems. In addition, we look to mitigate climate risk caused by climatic events and transition to a low carbon economy, enabling adaptation to a changing world.