Today, the higher education sector is increasingly focusing on sustainability. Hundreds of colleges and universities around the globe are aligning their teaching and research with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals according to the World Association for Sustainable Development’s SDGsUni list. Here in the U.K. (where we’re based), 10% of universities list sustainability as one of their flagship values in their mission statements. And there’s a range of environmental awards focused on best practice within our sector, such as the International Green Gown Awards.

Meanwhile, our students continue to campaign for greater sustainability. Many students’ unions now have a dedicated environmental officer and take part in the annual Green Impact assessment from Students Organising for Sustainability. Without doubt, sustainability is a watchword in our sector.

We’ve seen this shift in advancement too, as advancement professionals have become increasingly aware that we must reduce our print materials to become more sustainable. Fundraising campaigns are transitioning from direct mail to email outreach. Alumni magazines are being reimagined as digital alternatives, such as online microsites. Open day guides and recruitment materials are starting to be produced in PDF and HTML formats, rather than throwaway paper copies.

MICRO PROSPECTUS, BIG IMPACT: The University of Nottingham's micro prospectus saved the U.K. institution more than 72 tonnes of paper and 18,240 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Credit: University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham even stopped producing a traditional, weighty, printed prospectus in exchange for our micro prospectus. This award-winning innovation saved more than 72 tonnes of paper and more than 18,240 kilograms of carbon dioxide. This is the equivalent of an average petrol- or gasoline-powered car driving 287,000 miles.

As a sector, we should be proud of these bold steps to reduce the print carbon footprint of our student recruitment, marketing, alumni relations, and fundraising activities. But how often do we consider our digital carbon footprint?

Digital Carbon Footprint

Digital has long been promoted as the sustainable alternative to print and more higher education organisations have led digital transformations to reimagine their digital content. However, there are consequences to an expanding digital ecosystem. The more digital content we create, store, and consume, the more energy our computers, data servers, and digital devices use. Every web page, email, and social media post uses energy, which is typically generated from burning fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. One tweet may seem harmless, but electronic devices, the internet, and the systems supporting them produce 3.7% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, according to 2019 research from The Shift Project, an environmental think tank based in France. That’s more than the emissions produced by the airline industry (3.5%), and by 2025, electronics could produce as much greenhouse gas as cars, The Shift Project predicts.

It's not just using devices or storing data that takes energy—manufacturing electronics and disposing of e-waste contribute more and more to emissions. Between 2014 and 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from electronic devices and e-waste increased by 53%, researchers from University of California, Irvine, found in 2022. Ultimately, the energy demand for our digital habits is increasing by 9% a year, according to The Shift Project.

Digital sustainability is becoming the next battle in the fight against climate change.

So what actions can we take within the education sector?

Digital Sustainability in Education and Advancement

Digital content is one area in which education teams can reduce energy demand. As advancement professionals, we are likely responsible for significant digital projects: websites, digital asset management, customer relationship management systems, campaigns, podcasts, and social media. This provides us an opportunity to implement meaningful change.

Even if you’re mostly a consumer of digital content, rather than a creator, there are plenty of opportunities to make a change. After all, we contribute to our university’s digital carbon footprint every time we send an email, arrange a video call, and charge our laptops. Apply these simple strategies to slash your energy consumption and make your digital content and conduct more sustainable.

The Five Rs of Digital Sustainability

The five Rs of digital sustainability are actionable ways to reduce the energy demand of digital at your school, college, or university.

1. Refuse

Refuse to create new content. If content doesn’t meet a user need, or your existing content already meets the need, you shouldn’t be creating new content. There’s no point in adding another piece of digital content to an already burgeoning internet if there’s no need for it. Energy will be wasted in creating and storing this content.

Refuse suppliers who don’t share your values. Only partner with suppliers or use software products that use renewable energy or have a net-zero emissions strategy. You might need to do some digging to find companies’ stances on climate change. A simple switch is to swap Google for the eco-friendly, carbon-neutral search engine Ecosia. This Berlin, Germany-based company plants a tree every time users search.

Refuse emails and virtual meetings. Unsubscribe from e-newsletters you never open; ask to be removed from a CC or BCC email list; and question if a virtual meeting really needs to be recorded. All of these actions will cut energy demand. 

2. Reduce

Reduce complexity. Make it easier and therefore less energy intensive for users to find, understand, and engage with your web content by making it less complex. Build your site based on users’ top tasks, so they can quickly see where they need to go. Write in your users’ language so they’re not confused by your copy. Build user-friendly interfaces that help, rather than hinder, the user journey. 

Reduce the weight of web pages. The average web page weighs, in data, 2,000 kilobytes and produces about 0.5 grams of carbon dioxide per page view. You can check the amount of carbon a webpage produces using the Website Carbon Calculator. Set a page weight budget. Ask your web developers to streamline code and use lightweight features to stay within it. Images and video increase the weight of pages, so consider whether they’re really necessary.

SUSTAINABLE SITES: The Website Carbon Calculator tests the carbon footprint of websites. It offers resources on designing sustainable websites and examples of particularly efficient sites.

Credit: Website Carton Calculator

3. Reuse

Reuse old content. Follow the principle of “create once, repurpose elsewhere” by repackaging existing content and using it in new ways. You could share an old article that’s become relevant again, recut existing footage into a new video, or edit old presentation slides rather than creating new versions. All these steps will reduce the energy needed to create and store new content.

Reuse devices. On average, a laptop produces 423 kilograms of carbon dioxide—and the manufacture of it creates between 75% and 85% of its overall carbon footprint. Consider buying second hand or refurbished laptops. Websites like Backmarket sell preloved laptops, tablets, and phones at affordable prices. Circular Computing rebuilds laptops that are comparable to new and the company plants five trees for every laptop sold. Better yet, extend the life of your existing device by getting it repaired.

4. Repair

Repair search rankings. Keep an eye on content that drops to the bottom of page one or sits near the top of page two in Google search results. Make sure that the energy used to create and host your web content is being put to good use and generating visits from Google. Optimise your pages so they appear higher in search results. More page views will result in more carbon dioxide, but this is better than low page views because those redundant pages are still producing caron dioxide by being hosted in data servers.

Repair your content. Over time, unloved content languishing on your website or YouTube channel can become outdated and sometimes break. When a user lands on outdated or broken content, they’ve wasted energy getting to it and subsequently bouncing away from it. Set review dates and reminders to check your content, update where necessary, and fix things like broken links, 404 errors, and videos that do not display properly.

5. Retire

Retire your content. During a content review, if you find content is no longer needed, get rid of it. You can also set expiration dates for content. Make sure to redirect pages you remove to avoid broken links. Retiring your old content will reduce the energy required to host, load, find, and use the remaining content.

Retire your data. Delete old emails and documents you don’t need to keep. Clear out mailing lists of people who never open an email. Delete any data you legally need to dispose of under your region’s data regulations. This will reduce storage in data servers—and help software programs run more efficiently.

Going Forward, Going Green

Amid skyrocketing energy prices and our overheating planet, the battle against climate change can feel overwhelming. But there’s momentum for sustainability within higher education and advancement—and in sectors across the globe. Though conversations about digital sustainability are relatively new, multinational technology companies have started taking steps to address the problem. Google, Microsoft, and Apple are committed to net-zero carbon emissions. Meanwhile, more disruptor brands like Fairphone, an ethical smartphone company, are providing sustainable technology alternatives.

Thought leaders like Gerry McGovern, author of World Wide Waste, and Tom Greenwood, author of Designing for Sustainability, are leading the digital sustainability discourse. New conferences like Green Digital Accessibility and the Design for Planet Festival focus on how to create a green web; resources like Curiously Green, a free newsletter produced by Wholegrain Digital, explore digital sustainability.

Within a sector as large and global as higher education, we can have a huge impact on climate change if we reduce our digital energy consumption together. Share what you’ve learned about digital sustainability with your students, staff, and alumni community, and bring them along with you. To quote the Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Satoro: “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

Credit: beastfromeast / DigitalVision Vectors