At Intersect Global, we’re committed to making sustainability part of everything we do. That includes not only how we deliver projects, but also how we manage our digital presence. Recently, we ran our website through Ecograder, an independent tool that measures the environmental impact of websites by assessing performance, efficiency, user experience, and hosting. Here’s what we learned and how we plan to improve.
Our Results
- Ecograder Score: 73 / 100
- Emissions per Page Load: 0.66 grams CO₂
- Better than 55% of all URLs crawled
- Digital Carbon Rating: E (on a scale of A–E)
- Green Hosting: 100 / 100 – our hosting provider is powered by renewable energy
Even at a modest traffic level (1,000 page views), our homepage generates 660 grams of CO₂, roughly the same as driving a petrol car about 2 miles.
Where We’re Performing Well
Green Hosting: Our hosting provider scores 100/100, meaning our servers are powered entirely by renewable energy. Hosting alone can account for up to 30% of a website’s emissions, so this is an excellent foundation.
Accessibility & UX Design: The site scores well (97/100 for accessibility and 92/100 for search optimisation), ensuring users can quickly find information and interact efficiently.
Page Weight Efficiency: At 1.95 MB, our homepage is 12% smaller than the average web page — a positive step towards reducing unnecessary digital load.
Where We Can Improve
- Page Weight Optimisation (67/100):
- Further compressing images
- Removing unused code and third-party scripts
- UX Design (69/100):
- Improving page rendering
- Reducing server requests
- Enhancing caching for static assets
- Digital Carbon Rating (E):
- While our total emissions per page load are relatively low, our rating suggests there’s more to do in terms of optimisation.
Why It Matters
The internet is responsible for around 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions — roughly equivalent to the airline industry. Every page view has a carbon cost, and as our business grows, so does our responsibility to keep that footprint as small as possible.
By improving site performance, not only do we reduce emissions, we also:
- Deliver a faster, smoother experience for users
- Lower hosting and bandwidth costs
- Improve SEO and page conversions
Next Steps for Intersect Global
Based on this report, we’ll be taking action in three areas:
- Optimisation Further compressing media files, cutting unused JavaScript, and reducing third-party code.
- User Experience Enhancing page rendering and caching to lower the energy required by end-user devices.
- Transparency & Reporting – Running regular Ecograder checks and publishing updates as part of our sustainability journey.
Our Commitment
This Ecograder report gives us a valuable benchmark. While our score of 73/100 shows we’re already ahead of many websites, the E rating reminds us there’s still much work to do. By continuing to refine our digital presence, we’re making sure that sustainability runs through every part of Intersect Global from our projects to our pixels.
