Future of Digital Sustainability
Digital Sustainability Agency
That’s why as an agency, we’re redefining the understanding of the relationships between digital technology and sustainability. Whilst also clueing in our partners on how they can do the same.
Sean Ivester, Marketing Manager
The internet is accountable for 3.7% of the world's carbon emissions. That’s more than the entire airline industry.
As consumers, we may think about the main carbon footprint contributors as being what we eat and drink, where we travel and what we wear. We know that electricity is an unsustainable source of energy and yet, we don’t seem to think about the impact of our actions on the internet in the same way.
But for you as a business marketing to consumers in 2022, you need to and fast. It’s time to incorporate digital into your pre-existing sustainability mission in order to have an impact on reducing carbon emissions. The only way this can work is to ensure that traditional and digital sustainability methods go hand in hand.
The next phase for businesses is to look at sustainability from all angles. For example, if you implement new initiatives for selling recycled products, you also need to consider the environmental impact of the online platform you are selling them on,
The Three Pillars of Digital Sustainability
Digital sustainability is not just about the technology itself, but also how we use it. The three pillars that define our approach to digital sustainability:
/ Efficiency
When we embrace the spirit of minimalism, not just from an aesthetic perspective, but also from an efficiency perspective, we can achieve more with less.
By questioning every detail and thinking critically about how we might create better solutions, not only can we reduce the emissions of the products we design, but we can also make them more effective for users and businesses.
When designing sustainable platforms we need to shift our perspective to focus on efficiency and reducing energy usage.
/ Transparency
At rehab, we believe that transparency in the digital industry can empower brands and people to take meaningful actions to restore our natural world.
By implementing transparency, we can give users control over how much CO2 they produce by being online, creating new digital sustainable behaviors.
/ Impact
We follow John Elkington's principles of Triple Bottom Line Theory.
This concept suggests that we should measure profit not just on the financial bottom line but also on the benefit of our business to society and the natural environment.
Where do digital sustainability and Gen Z come into this?
With emerging tech, comes trickier markets. Generation Z presents a challenge for businesses as they have introduced a new age of disengagement when it comes to brands.
With their values intrinsically linked to geo, social, political and environmental perspectives, age-old tactics are feeble and unless negative, any conversion is minimal. Greenwashing goes without saying, so authentic measures are your direct route to success.
The key to achieving a high engagement rate from this new generation is to authentically embrace their values in a new, fresh way. Cutting through the noise of traditional advertising, and taking a fresh approach to sustainability is the way to grab their attention.
We’re inventing the new normal.
Our Digital Sustainability experience.
Experience
Rehab had previously worked with a leading sports brand when we redesigned their microsite to be more sustainable. We created a website with a 98.72% less carbon impact compared to the original one. With every 500,000 visits, we managed to save 770 kg of CO2, which is equivalent to the production of 207 pairs of sneakers.
Our hacker mentality
Rehab Hackweeks are short sprints where a small team collaborates and experiments to find creative solutions to real-world problems such as digital sustainability. Browsing the internet is a daily part of our lives. However, every activity we engage with online, whether it’s reading the news or watching Netflix, creates an environmental impact – a big one! Unfortunately, users don’t have much control over how much CO2 they produce by being online, which is why we created our plugin – Toggle.
Toggle
Toggle is a browser extension that gives users the power to browse the web more sustainably without disrupting their daily online activities. The first toggle that we have created is the ability to ‘toggle off’ images. We are currently in the process of creating additional toggles. In the future, users will be able to ‘toggle off’ other CO2-producing digital assets such as: Custom fonts, CSS animations, Javascript, Lightmode to darkmode
We help brands move towards
a more sustainable future.
We have a systematic approach to becoming a market leader in Digital Sustainability.
Rehab will identify areas where you can integrate sustainability efforts into your website and apps. Being aware of the impact puts you in a leading position in your category and you are able to captivate new audiences and invest in the future of our planet.
To discuss how our recommendations can help your business, please get in touch.
Sustainability Roadmap & Workshop
Why:
You want to quickly understand the impact of your business today and understand how to improve your impact over time.
Deliverable:
Desk research, strategic POV, a roadmap with quick win opportunities along with executional examples. This is presented to you and your team in a workshop style environment leaving you with toolkits to start to implement
Duration:
10 days
Digital Touchpoint Optimization
Why:
You want to show medium term improvement in your carbon impact, to start the journey into reducing the impact of your touchpoints on the environment.
Deliverable:
Deep Analysis of your digital touchpoint, including UX, Design, Content and SEO improvements which improve ranking, page speed while reducing friction.
Duration:
8-10 weeks
Sustainable Microsite
Development
Why:
To create a sustainable touchpoint that is press-worthy and aligned with your brand and mission
Deliverable:
Strategy, design, content and build of a sustainable website that actively reduces your brand’s carbon footprint.
Duration:
8 weeks
Let's build the future.
Rehab has over 18 years experience in building large scale web products with a focus on security, scale, growth, performance, and user experience - in addition to creating NFT projects for Meta, Ripple & Nike.
