Today, it has become essential to combine technological performance with environmental responsibility. As digital energy consumption surges—driven by AI, hyperconnectivity and widespread cloud computing—businesses stand to gain by rethinking their IT strategies. The key? Adopting sustainable technology principles from the outset, without compromising efficiency.
This approach isn’t just a response to the climate crisis; it’s a driver for performance, branding and cost reduction. Read on to discover how to leverage this growth opportunity.
Why has sustainable development become central to digital strategy?
Energy consumption across IT infrastructure continues to climb. This includes server management, data storage, AI model training and even web interactions. These all consume a significant amount of energy, but users are often unaware of the cost. For instance, did you know that a simple exchange with a virtual assistant activates multiple server processes, and that each process consumes electricity?
Adding to this, there are growing external pressures:
- Regulatory requirements
- Client expectations for transparency
- Investors’ ESG policies
- Compliance standards (like ISO 14001)
Increasingly, environmental performance in digital operations provides a competitive edge, and is even a prerequisite in certain tenders.
With the growing number of digital services, their carbon footprint is becoming a strategic issue. The outlook is concerning: within less than a decade, AI energy consumption could more than double. Electricity demand from data centers is set to increase twofold by 2030, potentially reaching the equivalent of Japan’s total electricity consumption today. Integrating sustainability is also about ensuring the long-term economic viability of digital services.
Harnessing performance for sustainable development
You don’t have to choose between energy efficiency and performance. In fact, the two often go hand in hand. With a well-designed interface, optimized code and a clear information structure, users can find what they need more quickly. The result? There are multiple benefits:
- Reduced server requests
- Less strain on infrastructure
- Increased speed
- Improved user experience
How do these principles apply in practice? In our experience, a major international airline reaped significant benefits. By implementing these principles, their website became cleaner than 76% of all web pages globally. Our team observed that “over 70% of [web page] views were conducted on mobile phones. [...] a dark mode viewing option [...] reduced energy consumption by 25–30%.”
Our solution? We developed a mobile-first design, a flattened structure, reusable components and minified CSS files, which are compressed files defining the site’s appearance (colors, typography, etc.) to speed up loading by removing spaces. Today, this company’s sustainable website has improved its:
- Environmental footprint
- Performance and speed
- SEO (+150% organic traffic)
Best practices for website eco-design
Implementing a sustainable tech strategy means making decisions at every stage:
- Technical: Minify JavaScript and CSS files, use lightweight code libraries, server filtering, autocomplete features and reusable components.
- Design: Clean themes, image compression, atomic design, system fonts (already integrated into users’ devices to avoid additional requests, like Segoe UI for Windows and SF Pro for iOS).
- Functional: Remove unnecessary features, simplify user journeys, lightweight and customized CMS, dark mode to reduce screen energy consumption.
By reducing the volume of data to process and transfer, these practices enhance user experience, loading speed and accessibility while reducing any negative impacts on the environment.
Designing lean IT infrastructure and reducing your carbon footprint
A sustainable strategy involves more than just website eco-design. It encompasses the entire IT architecture: cloud infrastructures, data management and business applications. You can make a difference by choosing providers that use renewable energy, opting for certified data centers or simplifying internal processes to reduce IT load.
Tools like WebsiteCarbon.com can analyze a site’s carbon footprint from its URL. They can identify high-load components like uncompressed images or unnecessary libraries. You can use these tools to eliminate entire image libraries that were downloaded but rarely used. These audits can also be conducted manually for internal applications or platforms.
Integrating sustainable development, starting with governance
To optimize your sustainable product, you need to integrate an eco-friendly approach at the earliest stages. Waiting until the end to turn your product into green technology would require reworking code, often at a high cost. By adopting the right practices during the design, architecture and governance phases, you’ll avoid any backtracking.
This involves including sustainability criteria in decision-making processes, alongside performance, security and budget considerations. This trend is gaining traction in technological leadership. By placing these criteria at the heart of governance, organizations can ensure an eco-friendly digital transformation.
Making better decisions with the right tools
Decision-making tools are emerging to help organizations balance performance, sustainability and their bottom line. Some model various technical scenarios (hosting, language, infrastructure), while others analyze real-time resource consumption (CPU, bandwidth, storage). It’s also possible to review the user experience to reduce clicks or simplify forms, which directly decreases server calls.
Our key principle: the smoother the journey, the faster users can find what they need. And in turn, they reduce their energy consumption.
Sustainable technology: a win-win
Designing a website or application that consumes less energy isn’t just about environmental stewardship. It’s also about:
- Improving accessibility: Lightweight pages load more easily on slow connections or older devices
- Enhancing performance: Fewer requests lead to faster systems
- Reducing costs: Less strain on infrastructure is better for your bottom line
- Boosting SEO: Loading speed is a major factor for search engines
- Enhancing brand image: Clients and partners are increasingly attuned to these issues
Embracing positive digital hygiene
Far from being a constraint, digital sustainability is a strategic advantage. By adopting a responsible approach from the outset, organizations create more efficient, inclusive solutions that are better aligned with future expectations. It’s not just a one-time fix—it’s a new mindset. You’ll appreciate the positive impact across the entire digital value chain.
Could your performance also benefit from digital sobriety? To explore how energy efficiency can enhance your performance while adopting green technology, talk to an expert today.