Root & Branch launches web sustainability platform

Root & Branch has launched a platform to measure the energy use and carbon emissions of websites and web applications. It describes it as the first platform built specifically for web sustainability.

The Brighton software company said the product is based on its Cardamon Web Model, developed with Innovate UK funding. The system measures digital emissions by analysing user behaviour rather than relying on broader estimates.

Digital services are drawing growing scrutiny from companies trying to account for their environmental impact. Websites and web applications sit within a digital sector estimated to produce up to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while rising demand for online services continues to increase energy consumption.

Many existing methods for measuring website emissions use top-down models, drawing on aggregate energy data and apportioning it across digital activity. Root & Branch argues these methods can indicate an overall footprint but often fail to show where energy is consumed within a site or application.

Its model takes what it describes as a bottom-up approach. It examines individual hardware components and traces customer actions on a website, such as moving through a page or adding an item to a basket, to build a more detailed picture of energy use and emissions.

The platform is designed to help organisations identify where digital emissions are generated across their web and cloud estate. It also provides data for reporting and audit processes, including work linked to ISO requirements and Software Carbon Intensity, a framework used to assess the environmental impact of software.

Measurement gap

The launch reflects a wider effort across the technology sector to move environmental reporting beyond broad estimates towards operational data that can guide product and design decisions. For companies with large online operations, that could mean understanding the emissions impact of design changes, infrastructure choices and customer journeys.

Root & Branch has also been involved in web sustainability standards work beyond its commercial product. Members of its team contribute to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Sustainability Guidelines and the Green Software Foundation's SCI for Web project, which seeks to define how the ISO SCI standard applies to the web.

The company also describes the Cardamon Web Model as scalable, allowing additional devices and data sources to be added over time. The aim is to give organisations a view of how emissions change as systems, traffic patterns and user behaviour evolve.

Adam Newman, co-founder of Root & Branch, outlined the company's view of the challenge facing developers and organisations.

"The web sustainability space has made real progress, and people building websites and applications are more aware of their environmental impact than ever before. But without the right tools and information, they lack the ability to make more environmentally friendly choices.

We realised that to truly fix the problem, we needed to turn the existing models upside down and radically change how we measure web sustainability to offer total transparency. The CWM does exactly that, providing clear, measured evidence so organisations can understand their digital carbon footprint within the context of their own business and finally start making a real difference.

You can probably count on one hand the teams globally making actionable progress in this space. We are proudly one of them. Our vision is to never profit from digital waste and enable others to do the same."

Standards work

The company said its methodology draws on academic and institutional research and aligns with ISO 21031. It also said it authored what it described as the first SCI for Web white paper.

That standards work matters because companies are under pressure to show their emissions reporting is based on methods that can be scrutinised by internal stakeholders, customers and auditors. In practice, software emissions remain harder to pin down than those from many physical operations because they are distributed across devices, networks, cloud infrastructure and changing patterns of use.

Oli Winks said the aim was to bridge the gap between reporting and action.

"We designed the CWM to give real visibility into how a system actually consumes energy and emits carbon. Existing approaches had moved the conversation forward, and we wanted to complement that by going even further. Now, we can put useful, accurate information into the hands of the right stakeholders, from boardroom reporting to product development.

When you can see the data clearly, you can act on it. That's the gap we fill, between reporting and actual reduction. We hope that those in industry and academia will engage with us, adopt this innovation, and find even more ways to collaborate to reduce the environmental impacts of software."