The internet consumes a lot of electricity. 416.2TWh per year, according to Wholegrain. This is more than the entire UK, and indeed producing carbon emissions equal to or greater than the global aviation industry. According to Greenpeace, the tech sector is predicted to be responsible for using 20% of the world’s electricity by 2025. According to Worthmore, global e-waste will reach 74 million tonnes by 2030, almost doubling in 16 years. From data centres to devices to transmission networks, then, the carbon cost of the tech sector and its electricity consumption is becoming increasingly visible.
Governments and corporations are under increasing pressure to establish substantial efforts towards their net zero commitments and provide transparent progress data: the tech industry is no exception. However, measuring and reducing emissions and providing stakeholder and certified reporting methods remain outdated for most businesses. Here, we have profiled nine businesses which have developed tools to help build sustainability into your tech business. Whether it involves recycling company smartphones or tracking your website’s carbon emissions, these tools will allow you to take proactive steps in a straightforward manner.
WHOLEGRAIN DIGITAL – WebsiteCarbon
- Creation year : 2007
- Country : London, UK
- Fundraising : N/C
Wholegrain is a web design agency. They use multisite functionality extensively for their corporate clients, including Oxfam, M&S, Unicef, or Lenovo. In 2018, they developed the first methodology for calculating the carbon emissions of websites and launched the Website Carbon Calculator for the public. Give it a go! At Maddyness, we found out our website produces 0.41g of carbon for every visit, and every year produces 53 billion bubbles. It’s a great tool, as it both raises awareness of the climate effect of websites, as well as signposts ways of cutting website emissions.
Key Strength: For the version 3 of Website Carbon Calculator, they partnered with industry leaders to collaborate on a standardised public methodology. The partners in this project have been the US-based company Mightybytes, environmental consultant Rym Baouendi, EcoPing and The Green Web Foundation.
ECOPING
- Creation year : 2020
- Country : UK
- Fundraising : N/C
EcoPing develops software to help businesses reduce their website carbon emissions. It calculates the emissions of a website by calculating where a business’s resources come from and the countries it is hosted in, giving an estimate of its carbon footprint. The solution also compares a website’s carbon emissions with competitors and offers insights and actions to enhance overall web performance.
Key Strength: EcoPing daily check allow companies to track their emissions over time. The internet alone consumes 416.2Twh per year, more than the entire UK. To further this, the average webpage produces 1.76 grams of C02 per page view, equating to 211kg of CO2 per year if the website has a minimum of 10,000 page views.
RAYLO
- Creation year : 2019
- Country : London, UK
- Fundraising : $38.2M
Raylo is a smartphone subscription startup. It offers leasing contracts for the latest iPhones. After a 12 or 24-month contract, Raylo collects old phones and then refurbishes them ready for a new life. The idea is that, instead of getting a new contract for your phone from a network provider, you essentially “subscribe” to Raylo, and receive a fully-insured, SIM-free device, with a complimentary case and screen protector, which brings down the overall cost of the phone.
Key Strength: Raylo’s partners recycle end-of-life devices. It is part of the circular economy promoting sustainability with usage longevity. As long as the phone is in a good condition, Raylo will sell the phone into an overseas consumer market where, on average, fewer people are able to afford a brand new device.
GREENPIXIE
- Creation year : 2021
- Country : London, UK
- Fundraising : £250k
Greenpixie develops a SaaS platform that can estimate any website’s carbon impact in seconds and show the emissions from cloud computing. CloudNetZero is a product that calculates and presents emissions data and then provides actionable steps to reduce GHG emissions and make a huge saving on cloud spend, with no loss in output.
Key Strength: Thanks to direct integration with cloud usage data – from providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure – Cloud NetZero provides emissions data in clear detail, much more accurately than estimations based on cloud spend.
WATERSHED
- Creation year : 2019
- Country : San Francisco, USA
- Fundraising : $70M
https://watershed.com/
Watershed helps companies measure their carbon footprint, then design and implement climate programs to help get them to net zero emissions, with a strategic plan built for their business that includes concrete emissions reduction targets.
Key Strength: Watershed was created by a team of engineers, climate experts, and data scientists who previously helped develop data-driven products and climate programs at companies like Airbnb, Apple, Stripe, and Meta. In July 2022, the startup opened offices in London to increase its footprint in the European market.
WORTHMORE
- Creation year : 2020
- Country : Copenhagen, Danmark
- Fundraising : $160.4k
Worthmore is a sustainable telecom provider. It offers second-hand phones, phone refurbishment and a buy-back program for old devices. The startup also created an app allowing consumers to calculate and offset the CO2 of their mobile subscription by donating money to various charities. Not only do they track and reduce your digital carbon footprint, but 25kr (£2) from every subscriber also goes towards a community impact pool to support organisations, projects, and people, making the world a better place.
Key Strength: Worthmore app uses AI to enable users to track, reduce, and offset their digital carbon footprint effortlessly and help users reduce their emissions by up to 15%. The startup is working on integrating blockchain into its technology.
ECOSIA
- Creation year : 2009
- Country : Berlin, Germany
- Fundraising : N/C
Ecosia is a non-profit search engine that plants trees with every search. Over 20 million users have helped plant over 150 million trees all over the world. Those trees help restore landscapes, nourish communities, protect wildlife and neutralize CO2.
Key Strength: With Ecosia, companies that burn a lot of fossil fuels are marked with a coal-fired power plant icon, and those that are environmentally friendly are given a green leaf. In addition to the environmental benefit, Ecosia does not collect data on its users (‘we want trees, not your data’).
GREENMETRICS
- Creation year : 2020
- Country : Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
- Fundraising : €1.4M
Greenmetrics develops a web platform that allows companies to measure the environmental footprint of their IT equipment and software. On the platform, companies and employees have access to a dashboard with metrics (e.g. classification and CO2 emission) as well as personalised recommendations and an action plan to reduce their digital pollution.
Key Strength: To ensure transparency and its methodology, Greenmetrics works with digital experts and researchers in digital frugality such as Romain Rouvoy (INRIA searcher). They validate the impartiality of the approach and ensure continuous improvement of the tools.
NET0
- Creation year : 2022
- Country : London, UK
- Fundraising : N/C
Net0 develops a carbon emissions management platform. Its platform features include emission tracking, green planning, reporting, data integration, and others. It also provides a dashboard to manage carbon emissions. Furthermore, it supports scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions measurements. Net0’s comprehensive software also enables emissions measurement and reduction planning, one-click carbon offsets, stakeholder reporting and regulatory compliance.
Key Strengh: Net0 is known for its AI automation features. For example, the AI-powered simulation functionality can predict the impacts of business changes on companies’ carbon footprint.
Early Metrics produces startup ratings and research to empower a changing economy. They have developed a scientific methodology to reliably evaluate startups and SMEs thanks to both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Able to identify emerging tech trends across multiple industries they provide the right open innovation tools for decision-makers from funds and corporates to discover, qualify and engage with the best innovative startups. Since 2014 they have rated over 4000 European and international startups for over 300 clients including CAC40 and FTSE100 companies.
