Website carbon impact: how does your industry compare?

At Abstrakt, we’ve carefully analysed the digital sustainability of websites across 10 industries. Our Website Carbon Impact Study compares the emissions of 300 businesses, highlighting where improvements are needed and who’s leading the way in creating a greener web.

This study looks into the performance of each industry, uncovering key observations and patterns that influence their website CO2 emissions.

Already eager to read it? Download it here.

As businesses work to reduce their environmental impact, focusing on the often-overlooked digital carbon footprint of websites is becoming increasingly crucial. Some industries are embracing best practices, while others have a long way to go.

To get the data needed for this study, we partnered with Digital Carbon Online, a tool that provides a comprehensive view of website emissions. Their methodology helped us gather accurate insights into the carbon footprint of websites across industries, ensuring our findings are backed by real data.

We want to support understanding, share knowledge and offer actionable tips on how to lessen digital carbon footprints. This study is part of that mission.

Our study measured website carbon emissions, rating sites from A+ (very efficient) to F (high emissions). The findings were eye-opening:

• The average emissions per page view across all industries was 0.68g CO2, earning a low E rating.
  
  

• Insurance websites had the best average carbon rating (C) with an average 0.44g CO2 emissions per page view.
  
  

• Food & beverage has the largest carbon emissions of all the industries included in the study with an average carbon rating of F.
  
  

• 50.3% of websites were hosted using green energy, with the construction industry leading the way (79.3% on green hosting).
  
  

• Our data showed that eco brands—despite their sustainable focus—ranked second worst for digital carbon impact.