Leading Suffolk manufacturer pledges to address digital carbon footprint

After investing in new energy efficient vehicles,  a new waste segregation system and partnering with Tree Nation to plant six trees for every one of their employees plus an initial 30, a leading Suffolk manufacturer is turning its attention to its online activity.

Thurston-based SMART Garden Rooms, Offices & Studios, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of quality outside buildings, has worked with marketing agency Norris Media to analyse the energy used in its many online activities with a view to significantly reducing them over the coming months.

Norris Media’s data shows that every 1000 impressions generated on a Facebook advert produces 18 grams of carbon, due to the energy needed to power the servers which deliver social content, including adverts, to both laptops and mobile appliances. Given the millions of impressions per year that SMART ads receive, this equates to a significant footprint for the company.

At a global scale,  the digital carbon footprint is as great as that of the aviation sector.

Matt Moss, the company’s managing director, said: “Like any worthwhile investment, becoming a net zero company is not easy. But we are deadly serious and so have resolved to look at every single aspect of our business.  

“A large percentage of our business leads – aside from recommendations – comes from online advertising. And that is why we have engaged Norris Media to help us analyse our current carbon footprint of our adverts, social media and website landing pages.   

“We are looking to eventually reduce our digital carbon footprint by between 30 and 70% and we believe we can do that without impacting upon our online effectiveness.”  

 The founder of Norris Media, Dan Bowler, has recently also been hired by SMART as its first-ever digital director with a clear brief to help deliver the company’s net zero ambitions.