How to Use Google Analytics to Calculate Your Websites Carbon Footprint

Viewing a web page produces an average of 0.5 grams of carbon dioxide. Now, let’s say your website is producing 10.000 views per month, your website would produce an average of 60000 grams of carbon dioxide a year! That’s the equivalent of charging 7,299 smartphones! 

It is strange to think that just existing online is enough to damage the atmosphere. We assume that scrolling the internet is harmless. After all, it’s not like we’re burning fossil fuels. 

However, there is a way that you can track your website's carbon emissions and offset them by investing in eco-friendly projects, like planting trees or developing water filtration systems. It’s easy to do, and all you need is access to Google Analytics and the right software!

How Can You Use Google Analytics to Cut Carbon Emissions? 

Google Analytics lets you track your website's traffic. You can see all kinds of data, like what pages are getting the most views and where traffic is coming from.

Because website views and page clicks produce carbon, collecting this data is vital to calculating your carbon footprint. 

Now that you have this data, you need an application that can calculate your emissions for you, otherwise, you’re just guessing! Apps like ours (which you can view by clicking here) give you an accurate calculation of your website's carbon emissions.

Having this data is one thing, but now you need to make a positive change to save the planet! You don’t want to cut your website traffic down, because that results in sales and enquiries. Instead, offset your emissions by investing in environmentally friendly projects.

If you use Zifera, you can calculate the total emissions of your website. Our app connects to Google Analytics (in just a couple of clicks) and collects the data on which pages were visited on your website and calculates the carbon footprint of each. We multiply that by the number of visitors a website has, and then we can calculate the total carbon footprint of your website. We check all the various assets that are loaded on your website and check if the servers behind them run on green energy.

We also offer other handy features, such as notifying you when a page is suddenly emitting more carbon than in a previous period. We also show an "efficiency rating", which shows how efficient the code of your website is. If it's 100%, it means your website is not emitting any unnecessary CO2. If it's 50%, it means your website could emit 50% less CO2 than it currently does. We also show the exact things you can improve to increase your efficiency.

After optimising your pages, you can compensate for the remaining CO2 if you wish. This means you are running a fully carbon-neutral website, which is sure to impress your customers!

How Do Websites Produce Carbon?

What we see when we look at a website is nice imagery and funky pages. What we don’t see is all the stuff that goes on in the background, like the large data centres websites are connected to.

It’s these data centres that produce carbon emissions. Countless websites are hosted on them, and energy is used whenever a website is interacted with. 

Do Website Carbon Emissions Matter to a Business?

As a business owner, you might be wondering if caring about the environment is a trivial thing, or if it’s going to make a difference to your bottom line. Of course, caring about the planet and future generations is the core reason we should all be making an effort to lower our footprint, but is there any financial gain?

There are many reasons why caring for the environment will positively affect your business, and most of them relate to profit. Firstly, being carbon neutral or advertising the changes you are making to be more environmentally friendly are great ways of differentiating yourself from your competition and building trust.

According to a recent study by Simon-Kucher and Partners, 33% of Brits are happy to pay 25% more for a product if it is eco-friendly. By investing a small amount into lowering your online carbon emissions, you could raise your prices by 25%!

Make a Difference Today

By combining Zifera with Google Analytics, you lower your carbon emissions; impressing your customers and saving the planet!

Our easy-to-use system allows you to track your emissions in real time, showing you how they are being offset. You’ll also get a certificate to show your customers how seriously you take the protection of the planet.

Save the world today by booking your 14-day trial here. After that, you can get involved for just seven euros a month.