Sustainability Update – 2024
Although it's been a while since our last update, we've been getting on with lots of good stuff in the background.
Our last Sustainability Pledge was published in 2023. It was pretty ambitious, and included lots of medium-to-long-term actions. So we've continued working on those during 2024.
Here's how it's going to date …
✅ Start a Sustainability Working Group
Hayley, Kate, Sam, and I are Supercool's Sustainability Working Group.
(Though I might suggest to the others that we rename ourselves the Sustainability Working/Action Group – just so we can be SWAG ?)
✅ ? Hold quarterly meet-ups to monitor progress and plan next actions
We got a bit behind with this. But we caught-up in October, and have our next meeting scheduled for January.
✅ Carbon Literacy training for the team
We all spent a day in the company of Carbon Literacy trainer Robin Lyons. We learned about our negative impact on the planet – and what we can do about it.
As part of becoming certified 'Carbon Literate', we each pledged changes we'd make in our lives to reduce our negative impact on the planet. Six months after the training, I asked some of the team how they were getting on: Carbon literacy training update
❌ Add sustainability ’check-ins’ throughout projects
We've not yet added anything new to our processes. But it was a main agenda item at our last meeting, and we discussed a whole bunch of actions. To be picked-up again in January!
✅ Supercool website cleanse
We started adding news / blog posts to our website way back in 2004. This meant we had a fair amount of old, out-of-date online content gathering digital dust.
Because all online content requires energy (to store and process), we advise our clients to keep website content lean – and only keep what they really need.
So, we've taken our own advice and removed the oldest stuff from our blog.
✅ Widget to help clients measure page weight
Ironic considering that last pledge – this update has a separate blog post all of its own: Helping clients measure web page carbon emissions
❌ Request Sustainability / Environmental Policies from all suppliers / potential suppliers
Chasing-up existing suppliers on their progress took a back-seat while I was on sabbatical. And I failed to pass the baton before I left. But it's an ongoing and important thing, so will keep ticking-away in the background from now on.
✅ Migrate more client websites to Servd
For context, Servd is a hosting platform specifically built for Craft CMS websites. Servd helps us to keep the complex, most technical parts of hosting as straightforward and lightweight as possible. And as a company, they're committed to environmental sustainability.
This is going well – around half of our clients' websites are now being hosted by Servd.
My favourite thing about this is that images on websites are automatically converted to WebP – the smallest, therefore least energy-intensive, file format.
✅ Review our Ecologi subscription
For now, we're still satisfied we're having a positive impact with this monthly subscription for each member of the team, so we're carrying on with it. But it's essentially a 'bonus' alongside actively reducing our impact.
✅? Calculate our predicted carbon footprint
Done / not done! We've not recalculated our per person carbon footprint this year. But because the way we work is consistent, we've decided to stick with using the same (slightly over-egged) base measurement for now.
The medium-term plan, however, is to find a company or individual to help us calculate our impact much more accurately. This way we'll be able to focus our impact reduction efforts on the areas that'll make the biggest difference.
What else have we been up to?
On top of our specific pledges, we've also found other ways to be a friend to the planet:
? Funding the restoration of 20m² of biodiverse habitat
This was in celebration of our 20th birthday back in January 2024. Around 50% of the UK's biodiversity has been lost, and we want to be part of fixing that. (For all the reasons in this article: Wildflowers, Wetlands and Wildlife)
? Sponsoring Act Green – for a second year
Run by award-winning audience specialists, Indigo, Act Green helps cultural organisations to:
- Discover how different audience groups view the role of cultural organisations in tackling the climate crisis
- Develop impactful ways to communicate with different audience groups
- Shape strategies for how best to involve audiences in sustainability initiatives
♻️ Recycling our garden-themed exhibition stand
The Supercool trellis was back at the AMA Conference again this year. This time in Brighton, and adorned with lots of thyme (something that Arts Marketers traditionally lack).
? Planting trees* and supporting CO2e avoidance, reduction and removal projects for every new website we launch
Recently we've planted/preserved trees near Camberley, Cheltenham, and Edinburgh.
*Bonus news – new research has shown that trees absorb methane!
? Sharing what we're doing – and what we're learning along the way
Being open about this stuff helps keep us accountable, as well as helping and encouraging others – clients, other sector organisations, sector suppliers, and our own peers – to tread more lightly on the planet.
Interested in making your website greener?
Bookmark our handy collection of resources, articles, links and tools:supercool.co/green