University of Exeter launches digital tool measuring websites’ impact on nature

Researchers at the University of Exeter are launching a new digital tool this week designed to highlight the often-overlooked environmental impact of everyday internet use.

The tool, called Digital Impact for Species, allows users to analyse websites and see the environmental cost of digital activity expressed in terms of its impact on nature, such as animals, plants and trees, rather than solely through technical carbon or energy figures.

Developed by the University of Exeter’s Nature and Climate Impact Team in partnership with design studio Madeby.studio, the project aims to make the environmental consequences of online activity easier to understand and more relatable to the public.

While digital services are often perceived as low-impact compared with physical industries, researchers say websites and online platforms rely heavily on data centres, servers and global infrastructure that consume significant amounts of energy and water. These impacts are largely invisible to users.

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Dr Marcos Oliveira Jr, a Research Impact Fellow at the University of Exeter, said the tool was designed to address that gap in understanding.

“When we visit a website, we rarely think about the environmental impact behind it,” he said. 

“There is energy used to move data from servers to our devices, and water used to cool those servers. The environmental cost is real, but it is hidden.”

He said translating those impacts into nature-based comparisons was intended to make the issue more tangible. 

“Instead of abstract numbers, people can see what their digital actions might mean in terms of trees, animals or ecosystems.”

The tool analyses elements such as website size, images and scripts, and checks whether a site is hosted on servers powered by renewable energy, using data from the Green Web Foundation. 

It then converts emissions, water use and energy consumption into nature-based equivalents.

The launch will take place at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where delegates will be invited to test their own websites. 

The project is being showcased as part of MonkeyRock, an eight-metre art installation created for the WEF Climate Hub by artist Joep van Lieshout and Professor Gail Whiteman from the University of Exeter Business School.

Although the launch is international, researchers say the work reflects expertise based in Exeter and ongoing research at the university into climate impact and sustainability.

The project has been part-funded by UK Research and Innovation and includes guidance on how organisations can reduce the environmental footprint of their websites.

Dr Oliveira Jr said the aim was not to criticise organisations but to encourage discussion. “This is not about naming and shaming,” he said. 

“It’s about prompting reflection on how we might build a more sustainable internet.”

Early results have highlighted the scale of digital impact. An analysis of the World Economic Forum website found that its monthly activity was equivalent to using enough water to sustain a giant panda for nearly a month, and producing carbon emissions that would take almost a year for a cork oak tree to absorb.

Researchers hope the tool will help businesses, institutions and individuals better understand the environmental cost of digital life, and support wider efforts to reduce emissions in less visible parts of the economy.