Sustainability at Webhosting UK

Sustainability at Webhosting UK

The critical challenge facing the world today is to end the damage caused by human activity on the earth’s fragile ecosystems. Webhosting UK is steadfast in its commitment to playing its part and we are striving to become a fully sustainable company as quickly as possible.

At present, we acknowledge that our operations still have a negative environmental impact and we are working hard to implement eco-friendly practices across our operations and supply chain to rectify this. Our goals are to achieve net-zero carbon emissions and to eradicate all environmental impacts we cause as soon as possible.

Sustainability at Webhosting UK

Our Progress so Far
 
ISO 14001 certified data centres

Webhosting UK’s main use of energy is in our data centres and to reduce our impact, all of them are certified to the ISO 14001 international standard. This requires us to run an effective environmental management system. Our certification shows we have complied with the standard’s environmental performance requirements and that we use resources and reduce waste efficiently. Specifically, this means that we:

 

ISO

Judiciously select power, cooling, lighting and other infrastructure.
 
Ensure well-designed airflow.
 
Adequately maintain power and cooling infrastructure.
 
Monitor our environments for irregularities and faults daily.
 
Repair faults quickly.
 
Make use of cooling systems that meet ASHRAE thermal guidelines.

ISO
ISO 50001 Accreditation & Compliance

ISO 50001 Accreditation & Compliance

In addition to ISO 14001, we also comply with ISO 50001, a standard that commits us to make consistent progress in how we manage our energy use. Webhosting UK’s accreditation shows that we are implementing, maintaining and improving our energy management systems, and our energy performance continually improves.

This includes operating more efficiently and reducing the amount of energy we consume. Initiatives we have deployed include the installation of low-energy LED lighting and advanced cold aisle contained data centre cooling systems.

SECR, ESOS & REGO

Webhosting UK’s data centres comply with the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations and we take part in the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS). To ensure we make greater use of sustainable energy, we obtain Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates for our green energy.

SECR certificate
ESOS certificate
REGO certificate

We are REGO Certified

For our Green Energy

Environmentally Friendly Partnerships

Like all businesses, we rely on partners in our supply chain and recognise that this can affect our environmental impact. Wherever possible, we seek partnerships with suppliers, including our energy providers, who have sustainability ambitions in line with our own. We also aim to support our partners on their journeys to decarbonisation and environmental neutrality.

 

Environmentally Friendly Partnerships

This support also extends to our customers and we continually put measures into place to help them reduce their impact. For example, by replacing HDDs with SSDs across our data centres, the amount of energy our drives consume is reduced by 50% at load and 87.5% at idle.

This contributes to lower CO2 emissions. SDDs also need replacing less frequently, are made from more environmentally friendly materials and reduce energy consumption further by performing at far greater speed than HDDs.

Environmentally Friendly Partnerships

Sustainable Working Practices

To improve our employee’s work-life balance and reduce our environmental impact, we have implemented flexible and remote working practices. This has reduced the amount of travelling staff need to do to carry out their work and thus significantly cuts our commute-related CO2 emissions.

 

Sustainable Working Practices

Sustainable Working Practices

As a consequence, we have been able to downsize our office space, moving from one large office in Morley, to two smaller hubs close to rail and bus terminals in Leeds and York.

This means when staff visit the office, they have less distance to travel and can do so easier using public transport. Our new premises are also more sustainable than our previous office, both having EPC ratings of A and making use of green technologies, like LED lighting.

Ending Paper Use

Ending Paper Use

We have successfully eliminated the vast majority of our paper-based communications, cutting our impact on deforestation and the damage caused by the manufacturing and transport of paper.

Sending an email only generates 4g of CO2 while posting a letter creates around 50g.

Ending Paper Use

In Conjunction with ESDS

Our Partner in India

Offsetting & Restoration

In conjunction with ESDS, our partner in India, Webhosting UK is contributing to Project Green Connect. This scheme seeks to reverse the destruction of the Indian jungle which has led to desert expansion, monsoon flooding and loss of natural habitats.

The project’s goal is to provide Indian landowners, farmers and NGOs with enough seeds to plant a billion new trees in the areas most affected. Not only will this help reverse some of the damage done through deforestation; those one billion trees will also act as a substantial carbon sink to help remove more CO2 from the atmosphere. Through our contribution to this project, we aim to offset our historical carbon footprint.

Offsetting & Restoration
Responsible Recycling

Responsible Recycling

The sophisticated hardware we use at Webhosting UK has many recyclable materials and we seek to minimise any waste when it reaches the end of its useful life. All defunct servers go through certified data cleansing and their reusable materials and components are responsibly recycled.

Additionally, server boxes are recycled by a national waste management company and recycling of consumables and other waste takes place at our offices.

Sustainable Development Goals

Webhosting UK fully supports the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of that support, we work to align our operations with those goals at both local and national levels.

Sustainable Development Goals

Our Future Aims

Our ultimate goal is for Webhosting UK’s operations to have no negative impact on the environment. Indeed, we are not only committed to eradicating all our CO2 emissions, pollution and waste, we wish to offset our historical carbon footprint and play a part in helping the planet recover from the damage being done.