4.1 Choose a sustainable service provider
Hosting, Infrastructure, and Systems
Ensure hosting and domain service providers support monitoring of resource use, use carbon-free electricity, and maintain and recycle equipment properly.
Criteria
- Monitor Metrics: Machine-testable
Monitor key indicators to assess and transparently report the environmental impact of hosting and identify overconsumption. These include energy and water usage, but also hardware factors, such as CPU usage and memory usage. Similarly, track the allocation of servers and CPU cores to optimize resource efficiency. Consumers should monitor and providers should both calculate and transparently share, environmental impact metrics. Metrics should include Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), and Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE).- #3 Metrics for Datacenter Efficiency: PUE, CUE, and WUE
- A *May* update on the first E.E.D. day in Europe
- Afnic’s Carbon Balance Sheet
- Beyond PUE: Taclking IT’s wasted terawatts (PDF)
- Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas
- Bridging the Sustainability Gap in Serverless through Observability and Carbon-Aware Pricing (PDF)
- Can the Internet Survive Climate Change?
- Carbon Footprint of Data Centers & Data Storage Per Country
- Cloud PUE: Comparing AWS, Azure and GCP Global Regions
- Data Centre Energy Use: Critical Review of Models and Results (PDF)
- Data Collection – Big Tech Emissions + Energy
- DC2 PARIS – Opcore Datacenter
- Energizta
- Getting beyond Net Zero dashboards in the information technology sector
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 4.15 – UX and UI (Sustainability Tracking)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.1 – Hosting (Hosting Provider)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.2 – Hosting (Equipment Policy)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.5 – Hosting (Renewable Documentation)
- GR491 – 1-8014 – Power Usage Effectivness
- GR491 – 1-8016 – Water Usage Effectivness
- GR491 – 1-8013 – Server Power Efficiency
- GR491 – 3-8026 – Power Off When Not In Use
- GR491 – 3-8027 – Physical VS Virtual
- GR491 – 3-8028 – Memory Usage
- GR491 – 3-8029 – CPU Usage
- GR491 – 3-8030 – Technical Choice Optimization
- GR491 – 3-8031 – Unused CPU Cores
- GR491 – 5-8053 – Efficiency Measurements
- Overestimating data center public health costs
- Overview of Power Factor in Streaming (PDF)
- Power Off, Sleep and Standby (PDF)
- Reading grid for environmental commitments of web hosting offers
- Stratix Rapportage Datacenters Impact en Feiten (PDF)
- Sustainability Guide: Product
- Sustainability Guide: Use
- What is PUE / DCiE? How to Calculate, What to Measure
- Equipment longevity: Human-testable
Maintain hardware to extend its lifespan as long as possible. Use it efficiently at an appropriate capacity, and ensuring it has the necessary certifications. New purchases should be from reliable long-lifespan suppliers.- 2020 Best Practice Guidelines for the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency (PDF)
- AWS WAF – SUS05-BP01 – Use the minimum amount of hardware to meet your needs
- AWS WAF – SUS05-BP04 – Optimize your use of hardware-based compute accelerators
- Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design (PDF)
- Cloud Computing, Server Utilization, & the Environment
- Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency
- Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse?
- Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks
- Data centres as a source of flexibility for power systems
- Digital Reset (PDF)
- Energy Consumption in Data Centres and Broadband Communication Networks in the EU
- Equations relating total annual energy consumption and chips energy efficiency
- Europe’s consumption in a circular economy: the benefits of longer-lasting electronics
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 4.15 – UX and UI (Sustainability Tracking)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.1 – Hosting (Hosting Provider)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.2 – Hosting (Equipment Policy)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.6 – Hosting (Local Datacenters)
- GR491 – 1-8017 – Datacenter Best Practices
- GR491 – 4-8040 – Certified Equipment
- GR491 – 6-8063 – Datacenter Certification
- Measuring the Emissions & Energy Footprint of the ICT Sector (PDF)
- New perspectives on internet electricity use in 2030
- Power and Energy Efficiency
- Promoting product longevity (PDF)
- Reporting requirements on the energy performance and sustainability of data centres for the Energy Efficiency Directive
- Requirements for Energy Efficiency Management
- The environmental footprint of the digital world (PDF)
- The staggering ecological impacts of computation and the cloud
- The real climate and transformative impact of ICT
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 3 – Health & Well-being
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 6 – Water & Sanitation
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 9 – Infrastructure
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 12 – Consumption & Production
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 13 – Climate Change
- Use Cases for Energy Efficiency Management
- Where Cloud Meets Cement
- E-waste management: Human-testable
Responsibly recycle or upcycle unwanted waste. Materials should be recovered and reused, where possible, or otherwise disposed of appropriately.- Circular Economy
- Digital and metal study (French) (PDF)
- Electronics and obsolescence in a circular economy
- GR491 – 1-8006 – Water Recovered Or Recycled
- GR491 – 1-8008 – Heat Reusage
- GR491 – 4-8047 – Repair Over Replace
- GR491 – 4-8048 – End-Of-Life
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- The circular economy in detail: Deep dive
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 3 – Health & Well-being
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 6 – Water & Sanitation
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 9 – Infrastructure
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 12 – Consumption & Production
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 13 – Climate Change
- What is a circular economy?
- Carbon-free electricity: Machine-testable
Use electricity with the lowest possible carbon intensity. Examine location-based emissions factors to calculate the carbon intensity of available electricity from the regional grid. Include the impact of on-site electricity generation, including backup generators, in calculations.- 2024 Eco Web Hosting Review
- 43% of major environmental websites make mass carbon emissions
- Benefits of buying sustainable goods and services
- Choose a sustainable service provider
- Digital data demand and renewable energy limits
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 4.15 – UX and UI (Sustainability Tracking)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.1 – Hosting (Hosting Provider)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.3 – Hosting (Power Usage Effectiveness)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.4 – Hosting (Water Usage Effectiveness)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.6 – Hosting (Local Datacenters)
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 8.7 – Hosting (Heat Utilization)
- GR491 – 1-8002 – Does Cooling Affect Groundwater
- GR491 – 1-8004 – Water Quality From Usage
- GR491 – 1-8005 – Source Of Water
- GR491 – 1-8017 – Datacenter Best Practices
- GR491 – 4-8039 – Renewable Energy Usage
- GR491 – 4-8041 – Energy Use Information
- GR491 – 4-8042 – Customer Transparency
- GR491 – 4-8051 – Cooling Impact
- GR491 – 6-8063 – Datacenter Certification
- Green Web Foundation Directory
- How much water do data centres use?
- How to cut water usage in cloud data centers
- I Made My Blog Solar-Powered, Then Things Escalated
- Quick Guide to Sustainable Design Strategies
- Uncertainty-Aware Decarbonization for Datacenters
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 3 – Health & Well-being
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 6 – Water & Sanitation
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 9 – Infrastructure
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 12 – Consumption & Production
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 13 – Climate Change
- Remaining emissions: Human-testable
Balance unavoidable remaining carbon emissions with high-quality market based instruments or other evolving instruments from the voluntary carbon market, until additional carbon-free energy resources become available. The quality of market-based instruments should be verified by non-profit third-party organizations with sufficient supporting evidence.- Alternatives to Carbon Credits
- An Even More Inconvenient Truth
- Can you really negate your carbon emissions?
- Carbon accounting in the Cloud (PDF)
- Carbon Aware Computing
- Carbon Aware Computing: Next Green Breakthrough or New Greenwashing?
- Carbon Awareness
- Carbon Credits vs Renewable Energy Credits
- Carbon Neutral Verification
- GR491 – 1-8007 – Noise Pollution
- GR491 – 2-8023 – Respect for Labor Code
- Is carbon compensation a real climate solution?
- Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 3 – Health & Well-being
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 6 – Water & Sanitation
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 9 – Infrastructure
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 12 – Consumption & Production
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 13 – Climate Change
- Web Hosting: Renewable Energy & RECs
- What Are Renewable Energy Credits?
- Worthless: Chevron’s carbon offsets are mostly junk and some may harm, research says
- Domain names: Machine-testable
The impact of domain names is disclosed by registries and registrars, and registrants consider and (where possible) mitigate against these environmental issues.- .eco Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report – 2024
- A .fr domain name generates 147g of CO2 per year
- Climate Footprint Report DNS Belgium 2023 (PDF)
- FY24 GHG Inventory Report (PDF)
- Green Web Foundation Domain name retailers
- Sustainability at Nominet
- The carbon footprint of domain registries
- The Climate Impact of a Domain Name
- The Swedish Internet Foundation Climate report 2023 (PDF)
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 3 – Health & Well-being
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 6 – Water & Sanitation
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 9 – Infrastructure
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 12 – Consumption & Production
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 13 – Climate Change
Benefits
- Conversion
In cases where a badge or link about sustainable hosting providers appears on a website, users concerned about the issue may use and reuse the site preferentially. - Environment
Using hosting providers that operate with lower emissions, better power efficiency, and more responsible electronic waste management reduces negative environmental impacts from websites and products. - Social Equity
Hosting providers with transparent environmental sustainability are minimizing the negative impacts on their local communities. - Transparency
Sharing the efficiency and carbon-free energy metrics of hosting services allows the public to verify and understand sustainable websites and products.
GRI
- Materials: Low
- Energy: Low
- Water: Low
- Emissions: Low