4.1 Use sustainable hosting
Hosting, Infrastructure, and Systems
Select and manage infrastructure using sustainability metrics, prioritizing low-carbon energy use and low-impact hosting and domain choices in selection, and extending hardware lifespan and minimising emissions in management.
Success Criteria
- Provider selection:
Include sustainability metrics when selecting and evaluating potential infrastructure, hosting, cloud, platform, externally managed content, or other digital services. Favor providers that publicly and transparently disclose their environmental policies and related performance indicators, including Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), renewable energy use, emissions reduction commitments, and hardware maintenance and sourcing practices. - Efficient operation:
Monitor and reduce the negative environmental impact of all running infrastructure over time. Whether external or self-hosted, track all available relevant indicators, such as energy use, water use, and server resource utilization. This includes CPU/cores, memory, storage, and network usage. Use this information to identify inefficiencies, reduce overprovisioning, optimize resource use, and support transparent sustainability reporting. - Equipment longevity:
Extend the lifespan of hardware. Use equipment efficiently and at the right capacity and keep it securely patched and properly maintained. New hardware should be sourced from suppliers that commit to device longevity, patching, and repair options. - Low-carbon electricity:
Use electricity with the lowest possible carbon intensity. Hosting providers should measure and report carbon intensity using available location-based grid data, including on-site generation, backup systems, and storage. Use this information to select lower-carbon hosting providers and improve energy sourcing and infrastructure efficiency. - Remaining emissions:
Reduce remaining emissions using market-based carbon accounting for indirect electricity emissions under the GHG Protocol (Scope 2). When purchasing low-carbon electricity through Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) or Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), ensure the certificates match the time and location of the electricity used, identify when the renewable electricity was generated, can be validly issued and retired in a way that prevents double counting. - Domain names:
Verify that the impact of domain name registration is disclosed by domain registries and registrars. Where environmental impact data is available from registrars, use it to inform domain registration decisions and mitigate environmental impact. Where such data is unavailable, assess the assumed environmental impact when making registration decisions and make sustainability-focused choices where possible.