How to write sustainable content

All content has an impact, here’s how to reduce it.

The carbon emissions of the internet have grown to be similar to the airline industry and are still growing fast. If it was a country, it would be the fourth largest polluter.

I’ve worked in content for nearly 20 years. For much of that I didn’t know all web content had an impact on the planet. Now we know every web page, blog post, and social media post has a cost.

It’s clear that we cannot keep producing content without considering its impact, both to people and the planet. The good news: content that works well for people is often the most planet-friendly too.

Here’s 8 ways to reduce the impact of your content.

Principles for sustainable content

1. Plan your content

Make sure each piece of content has a clear purpose. More website visitors means more carbon used. Focus on creating content that:

meets people’s needs
supports business goals
reaches the right people.

Most websites only convert 1% of visitors to customers. Better planned content can improve this while using less energy.

A content strategy can help you:

get clear on your audience and message
efficiently create and manage content
measure what works.

2. Use the right format

Choose formats that use the least energy while meeting your needs.

use words instead of images where appropriate
use images instead of videos where appropriate
optimise images and videos to make them smaller
remove carousels.

3. Make user journeys simpler

Help people find what they need quickly by streamlining user journeys to reduce the amount of content and page loads.

Customer journey mapping can help:

map out how people use content
cut out unnecessary steps
reduce page loads.

Every step in a user journey has a tangible impact on the environmental impact, and good structural design helps reduce that.
Tom Greenwood, Sustainable Web Design

4. Be thoughtful about AI use

AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools can help with some content tasks like proofreading and style checks, but AI is hugely energy-intensive. Only use them when the benefits are worth the energy cost.

5. Be concise

Aim for less, but better content. Content should be only as long as it needs to be to achieve your goals.

6. Remove unnecessary content

Regularly review content and delete content that’s redundant, outdated, or trivial.

7. Don’t duplicate content

Delete pages like FAQs that repeat information from elsewhere on your website.

8. Send fewer emails

Each email has a carbon cost. Send fewer emails by:

sending emails less often
segmenting emails so they only go to the right people
asking people if they still want to hear from you.