This document lists additional resources that reinforce the guidelines and success criteria within the Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) specification.

Resources may include academic and/or government sources, works from standards bodies, research papers, case studies, relevant content showcasing implementation or use cases, tools (free or open source); or other materials that are relevant to understanding, implementing, or reinforcing the sustainability principles.

Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement is implied. Neither the W3C nor the Sustainable Web Interest Group can guarantee the sustainability of these external resources.

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Additional Resources

User Experience Design

Identify, assess, disclose, review, and mitigate sustainability impacts:

Impact analysis
External impact

Understand user requirements or constraints, resolving barriers to access:

Audience evaluation
Barriers and access
Barrier removal

Integrate sustainability into every stage of the ideation process:

Sustainable brand development
Wireframes and prototypes
Participation and testing
Environmental ideation

Minimize non-essential content, interactivity, or journeys:

Efficient paths
Patterns for efficiency
Distraction-free design
Eliminate the non-essential
User-initiated actionable content
Decorative design

Ensure that navigation and wayfinding are well-structured:

Navigation and search
Human-readable sitemaps
New content

Design to assist and not to distract:

Respect user attention
Minimize distraction
Reduce engagement traps

Avoid being manipulative or deceptive:

Deceptive design patterns
Advertisements
Analytics and tracking
Search Engine Optimization

Make deliverables understandable and reusable:

Deliverables reusability
Deliverables documentation
Deliverables readability

Use a design system for interface consistency:

Design system

Provide clear, inclusive content with purpose:

Clear content
Content formatting

Optimize media to reduce resource use:

Need for media
Optimized media
Lazy loading
User-controlled media
Media management and use

Ensure animation is proportionate and easy to control:

Need for animation
Avoiding overburdening
Control animation

Use optimized and appropriate web typography:

Pre-installed typefaces
Web font optimization
Web font subsetting

Offer suitable alternatives for every format used:

Open formats
Font stack fallbacks
Alternative text
Transcripts and text
Video alternatives

Provide accessible, usable, minimal web forms:

Simple forms
Functional forms

Avoid unwanted notifications:

Need for notification
Notification settings

Reduce the impact of downloadable and physical documents:

Printed documents
Optimized documents
Optimized delivery
Labels and choice

Involve users early in the project:

Early user testing

Audit and test for bugs or issues requiring resolution:

Ongoing evaluation
Non-regression tests
Regression tests
Performance testing
Compliant measurement

Verify that real-world users can successfully use your work upon and after release:

Usage changes
Usability testing

Regularly test and maintain compatibility:

Compatibility policy
Maintaining compatibility
User constraints
Progressive web applications (PWAs)
  • Assessing the Impact of Service Workers on the Energy Efficiency of Progressive Web Apps [[SWPWA]]
  • Evaluating the Impact of Caching on the Energy Consumption and Performance of Progressive Web Apps [[MPWA]]
  • GreenIT
    • 0019 - Prefer PWA over native mobile applications that are similar to the website
  • Investigating the correlation between performance scores and energy consumption of mobile web apps [[PSEC]]
  • PWA Builder
  • Starbucks Ordering and Store Locator PWA
  • The Carbon Impact of Web Standards [[CIWS]]
  • Web Almanac: Sustainability [[ALMANAC]]

Web Development

Set goals based on performance and energy impact:

Performance goals
Energy intensity

Remove unnecessary or redundant information:

Minified code

Modularize bandwidth-heavy components:

Code splitting

Remove unnecessary code:

Remove redundancy

Avoid redundancy and duplication in code:

Remove or simplify
Iteration over recreation
Organize code arrangement

Give third parties the same priority as first parties during assessment:

Assess and reduce
Third-party implementation
Self-hosting
Third-party preferences

Ensure code follows good semantic practices:

Semantic code
Optional features
Non-standard code
Custom code
Built-in over custom

Defer the loading of non-critical resources:

Asynchronous code
Optimized loading

Provide information to help understand the usefulness of a page:

Accessibility aids

Validate form errors and account for tooling requirements:

Error validation
Label elements
Allow clipboard

Structure metadata for machine readability:

Required elements
Meta tags
Structured data

Sustainable CSS user preference media queries are used:

Media and preference queries

Ensure layouts work for different devices and requirements:

Device-adaptable
Progressive enhancement
Carbon-aware design
Alternative browsing

Use standards-based JavaScript and APIs:

Sustainable JavaScript
Sustainable APIs
API requests

Ensure that your code is secure:

Code security

Use dependencies appropriately and ensure maintenance:

Dependency management
Dependency necessity
Dependency updates

Include expected and beneficial files:

Expected files
Beneficial files

Use the most efficient solution for your service:

Identify requirements
Optimized methodology
Static over dynamic
Extensions and plugins
Interface components

Use the latest stable language version:

Versioning
Language choice

Reduce the number and complexity of database queries:

Database queries

Hosting, Infrastructure, and Systems

Use sustainable hosting:

Provider selection
Efficient operation
Equipment longevity
  • 2020 Best Practice Guidelines for the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency (PDF)
  • AWS WAF
    • SUS05-BP01 - Use the minimum amount of hardware to meet your needs
    • SUS05-BP04 - Optimize your use of hardware-based compute accelerators
  • Best Practices Guide for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design [[EEDCD]] (PDF)
  • Cloud Computing, Server Utilization, & the Environment
  • Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency [[CCEEDC]]
  • Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse?
  • Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks
  • Data centres as a source of flexibility for power systems [[DATAFLEX]]
  • Digital Reset (PDF)
  • Energy Consumption in Data Centres and Broadband Communication Networks in the EU [[ECDCBC]]
  • Equations relating total annual energy consumption and chips energy efficiency [[CEE]]
  • Europe's consumption in a circular economy: the benefits of longer-lasting electronics [[EEA]]
  • [[GPF]] - General Policy Framework for the Ecodesign of Digital Services
    • 4.15 - UX and UI (Sustainability Tracking)
    • 8.1 - Hosting (Hosting Provider)
    • 8.2 - Hosting (Equipment Policy)
    • 8.6 - Hosting (Local Datacenters)
  • [[GR491]]
    • 1-8017 - Datacenter Best Practices
    • 4-8040 - Certified Equipment
    • 6-8063 - Datacenter Certification
  • Measuring the Emissions & Energy Footprint of the ICT Sector [[EEF-ICT]]
  • New perspectives on internet electricity use in 2030 [[IEU]]
  • Power and Energy Efficiency [[PAEE]]
  • Promoting product longevity [[LIFESPAN]]
  • Reporting requirements on the energy performance and sustainability of data centres for the Energy Efficiency Directive [[RREPDC]]
  • Requirements for Energy Efficiency Management [[REEM]]
  • Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for Data Centres and Servers (PDF)
  • The environmental footprint of the digital world [[FOOTPRINT]]
  • The staggering ecological impacts of computation and the cloud [[EICC]]
  • The real climate and transformative impact of ICT [[CTICT]]
  • United Nations [[SDGS]]
  • Use Cases for Energy Efficiency Management [[UCEEM]]
  • Where Cloud Meets Cement [[CEMENT]]
Low-carbon electricity
Remaining emissions
Domain names

Optimize caching and support offline access:

Caching resources
Offline access

Reduce data transfer with compression:

Server-side compression
Media compression

Setup necessary error pages and redirection links:

Error pages
Redirection

Avoid maintaining unnecessary virtualized environments or containers:

Unused environments

Use automation wisely:

Task automation
Necessary tasks
Automated scaling
Suspicious activity management

Define the frequency of data refreshes:

Refresh frequency

Back up critical data at routine intervals:

Data backups

Consider the impact and requirements of data processing:

Batch processing
Protocols
Event-driven architecture
Data processing efficiency

CDN use must be proportionate and sustainable:

Global (CDNs)
Sustainability commitment
Local servers
Inappropriate resources
Efficient location

Ensure infrastructure fits project requirements:

Lowest requirements

Store data according to the needs of your users:

Reduce redundancy
Expiration dates
Classify and tag
Efficient storage
Optimized logging
Asset downloads

Business Strategy and Product Management

Have an ethical and sustainable product strategy:

Public documents
Achievements and compliance
Governance over time
Technology legislation

Assign a sustainability advocate:

Advocate for sustainability

Inform, raise awareness, and train for sustainability:

Inform and aware
Routine training
Active participation
Training materials
Incentivize progress

Communicate the environmental impact of user choices:

Communication of impact

Calculate the environmental impact:

Life-cycle assessment
Competitor impact
Tooling impact

Define clear organizational sustainability goals and metrics:

Sustainability goals

Validate efforts using established third-party certifications:

Obtaining certifications
Maintaining certifications

Support mandatory disclosures and reporting:

Policies and practices
Impact reports
Standards and policies
Impact reduction

Create one or more impact business models:

Theory of change

Follow a product management and maintenance strategy:

Management and maintenance
Planning strategy
Resourcing products
Resource measurement
Failure indicators

Implement continuous improvement procedures:

Continuous improvement
Retrospectives conducted
Iterative consideration
Functionality decisions
Security updates
Skills and maintenance

Document future updates and evolutions:

Feature changes

Establish if a digital product or service is necessary:

Sustainable Development Goals
Creation evaluation
Obstacle consideration

Provide a supplier standards of practice document:

Vetting potential partners
Collaborative measurement
Informative partner promotion

Share economic benefits:

Living wage
Incentivisation
Employee benefits

Share decision-making power with affected parties:

Decision-making

Use Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI) practices:

JEDI practices
Accessibility policy
JEDI training
JEDI improvements

Promote responsible data practices:

Data practices
Data ownership

Implement appropriate data management procedures:

Outdated content
Data controllers

Establish responsible practices around AI and emerging or disruptive technologies:

AI and data collection
Business adaptation
Environmental responsibilities
Automated tooling
Quantum resilience

Include responsible financial policies:

Fuel divestment
Responsible finance

Include organizational philanthropy policies:

Philanthropy policy
Voluntary work

Plan for a digital product or service's care and end-of-life:

End-of-life care

Include e-waste, right to repair, and recycling policies:

E-waste management
E-waste policy
Recycling and repairing
Refurbishment strategy
Right to repair

Define performance and environmental budgets:

Environmental budget
Performance budget
Human budget
Measurable improvements

Use open source where possible:

Open source policy
Collaboration
Contribution

Create a business continuity and disaster recovery plan:

Plan of action
Audience awareness

Acknowledgments

Additional information about participation in the Sustainable Web Interest Group can be found within the GitHub repository of the Interest Group.

Participants active in the development of this document

Alexander Dawson, Andrea Davanzo, Anne Faubry, Antoine Abélard, Arnaud Levy, Berwyn Powell, Brett Tackaberry, Dennis Lemm, Diogo Abrantes Da Silva, François Burra, Iain McClenaghan, Ines Akrap, Iulia Raluca Ionita, Ivano Malavolta, Jennifer Strickland, Jens Oliver Meiert, Josh Kim, Laurent Devernay Satyagraha, Mike Gifford, Morgan Murrah, Owen Rogers, Richard Ishida, Romuald Priol, Rose Newell, Siddhesh Wagle, Thibaud Colas, Tim Frick, Tzviya Siegman