Guest Article


www.parkworld-online.com


Aligning digital sustainability credentials with physical sustainability philosophies


All digital sustainability journeys need to begin


with an initial benchmarking of current CO2 output for websites, which can be done using an online Website Carbon Calculator. This will show organisations how much carbon is produced from each visit to the homepage. It will also decipher whether or not the website is on a server using green energy, which is often the first fix that needs to be made.


Amy Czuba, senior account manager at Nexer Digital


T


he mounting pressure of the impending climate crisis means that responsible organisations across the world have made


serious moves towards improved sustainability habits and minimising carbon footprints. The tourism and attractions sector is no different, with responsible and sustainable tourism growing in popularity and increasing demand from consumers looking for eco- friendly places to visit. The EU recognises sustainability as one of the


five pillars of the Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage, highlighting the sector’s potential to enhance social capital, boost economic growth and secure environmental sustainability. Parks around the world are bolstering their sustainability practices to offer responsible tourism – for example, PortAventura World in Spain has become the world’s first carbon-neutral resort and Merlin Entertainment is partnered with sustainability specialist, Ramco, to ensure no redundant equipment goes to waste. However, despite this commitment to minimising


the physical impact of attraction sites, digital carbon emissions are all-too-frequently overlooked, which can counteract the positive impact being made elsewhere. The internet has a huge footprint as servers at


data centres need constant powering and cooling. Annually, the internet produces the same amount of carbon as Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Mongolia combined, and digital consumption has overtaken the airline industry in terms of CO2 emissions. Although high-energy use by the internet and


general technology is something of an inevitability, there are steps organisations can take to reduce their digital carbon footprint, supporting the efforts they are already making in their physical sites.


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Servers and hosting Green energy powered servers are becoming much more common, with Microsoft, Amazon and Google all using at least 50% renewable power in their data centres. However, some data centres are more sustainable than others and it is an organisation’s responsibility to ensure they are using a green host and to switch if they are not. By looking into existing hosts’ sustainability


policies, tourism and attraction sites can see if they are working with a company with meaningful statements of green energy in data centres as well as other facilities and wider eco-credentials in energy efficiency, electronic waste and travel. The best policies will have tangible, measurable commitments rather than vague statements. The Green Web Foundation has a directory of


sustainable hosts, which is a good place to start if an existing host isn’t committed to being green. Another aspect to consider is whether the website


is run on a dedicated or virtualised, or cloud, server. A virtualised server is the more sustainable option but may not be appropriate for every organisation.


Technical performance Improving the website’s technical performance will lead to significant CO2 savings as the website will be running at its most efficient. This can be achieved by optimising the website


to require fewer requests or bundled requests that spend less time loading. Compressing pages will make them smaller and therefore less energy- intensive to access and caching delivers copies of stored resources or pages instead of having to download them from the originating server. These techniques allow websites to deliver the


same level of service to those accessing them, but the servers do not have to work as hard and use less energy in the process.


Content optimisation Once the website is running at technical efficiency, content needs to be optimised so that it is easy to


access and consume. This means website users spend less time on pages and less time searching for what they are looking for, minimising emissions Performing readability tests on content will make


it easier to consume and organisations should ensure their website is clear from redundant or duplicated content. Focusing on improved search engine optimisation (SEO) will result in fewer Google searches to find the content and have the secondary benefit of the website reaching more people.


Case study – Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh As an organisation delivering world-leading plant science, conservation and education programmes, Royal Botanic Garden has started to improve the carbon footprint of its website to align with its wider philosophy. The project started with an audit in December 2021, revealing its homepage’s baseline emission of 1.70g of CO2 for each pageview. It was also revealed that its server was running on non- green energy. Since the audit, there has been a promising start


on a number of recommendations, such as looking at greener ways to host the site and improving the technical performance of the website so it is lighter and less exhaustive on resources. This has already resulted in a 15% reduction in CO2 per homepage visit.


Final thoughts


Sustainability is not something that leisure attractions can be placid about, and broadly physical work in the sector is progressing. However, digital products are still emitting high quantities of carbon and tarnishing wider philosophies. By considering the environmental impacts of their online offerings, attraction sites can make a customer’s entire visit greener, from the moment they find and buy tickets online, through to the physical world and the end of their visit.


Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh WINTER PART 2 2022


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