We discuss sustainability in fashion, mobility, architecture — everywhere. But the web? The thing we refresh thousands of times a day? Almost no conversation.

Yet the internet is not weightless. According to multiple independent assessments, the web is responsible for an estimated 2–4% of global CO₂ emissions — roughly on par with global aviation. And it’s growing every year.

Heavy websites = more data → more energy → more emissions. Most of it invisible. Most of it ignored.

So why aren’t we talking about sustainable web design? About lighter pages, fewer scripts, less tracking, low-tech defaults, more intentionality?

The “slow web” isn’t nostalgia — it’s a design ethic.

Maybe the question isn’t “how fast can we ship?” but “how little does our work need to exist?”

https://sustainablewebdesign.org/