Designing for Sustainability

Chapter 2. A Sustainable Web Design Primer

What You Will Learn in This Chapter

In this chapter, we will cover:

• Why standards for Internet sustainability are important.

• The individual components of a framework for creating more sustainable digital products and services.

• Potential barriers to widespread adoption of these standards.

• Workarounds for building awareness and decreasing environmental impact.

Sustainable Web Design

In December 2015, leaders from 195 countries came together at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, adopting the first ever universal climate accord for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to slow or halt global warming. After much deliberation, they agreed to the following:

• A goal for reducing the global temperature rise to well below 2° C above preindustrial levels.

• Participating countries will work to monitor, report, and curb their GHG emissions.

• Countries will invest hundreds of billions of dollars in climate-related financing toward curbing emissions and expanding cleaner, renewable energy sources.

Figure 2-1. At COP21 in Paris, leaders from 195 countries decided on a list of actions and commitments to be free of coal, oil, and gas with 100% renewable energy by 2050

On Earth Day 2016, 175 countries committed to signing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the United Nations headquarters in New York.^[89] United States Secretary of State ...