Sustainable Digital Solutions: Lessons from Umbraco and Mike Berners-Lee

As a Silver Partner of Umbraco, we closely follow the platform’s evolution — not just in terms of performance and scalability, but also for its growing focus on digital sustainability.

The recent invitation to the webinar with Mike Berners-Lee, author of A Climate of Truth and global authority on sustainability, reinforced a topic we care deeply about: the digital world has an environmental footprint — and as creators of digital experiences, we have a responsibility to minimize it.

Digital Sustainability: A Shared Responsibility

IT-related emissions have increased from 3.7% to nearly 10% of global totals. Websites, apps, cloud services, AI — all consume energy. And the more we build, the more impact we create.

As Lasse Fredslund, Product Manager and member of Umbraco’s Sustainability Team, stated: “It’s not enough to just have more efficient tools — we must also use them consciously and sparingly.”

The Jevons Paradox: Efficiency Can Backfire

A key concept raised by Berners-Lee and echoed by Umbraco is the Jevons Paradox: as technology becomes more efficient and affordable, overall usage tends to increase — ultimately raising the total environmental impact.

This is highly relevant in tech — even with greener tools like optimized .NET or low-emission Azure hosting, unchecked digital growth still harms the planet.

How Can We Make a Difference?

There are practical ways we can reduce the digital footprint of our projects:

• Lean architecture: design only what’s needed, no excess.
• Efficient code: fewer requests, optimized media, smart caching.
• Right-sized infrastructure: no overprovisioning.
• Content awareness: train editors to publish more efficiently.

Umbraco recently published its Sustainability Best Practices — which we’ve already begun applying in our projects.

Real Benefits for Business and the Planet

• Faster websites → better UX and SEO
• Optimized solutions → lower operating costs
• Responsible positioning → stronger reputation
• Sustainability → compliance and future-readiness

Join the Conversation

On May 22nd at 4 PM CET, we’ll be attending the webinar “Digital Sustainability & How Enterprises Can Take Action” with Mike Berners-Lee. If you want to be part of a more sustainable digital future, register here.

We remain committed to building scalable, innovative, and environmentally conscious solutions.

Let’s build a greener digital future — together.