Online data traffic generates a significant ecological load: according to 2020 reports, the use of digital technologies and the Internet contributes about 4% to the emission of greenhouse gases. As the next step in its sustainability efforts, Ringier Hungary is starting to measure and reduce the carbon emissions of its digital media portfolio, as the first in the Hungarian press industry. The process will start this summer by measuring the carbon efficiency of Blikk.hu, the domestic news site with the largest number of daily visitors, in cooperation with Carbon.Crane.
Since 2021, Ringier Hungary, the publisher of Blikk, GLAMOUR, Kiskegyed, Sportal.hu, GEO magazine, EgészségKalauz.hu, and many other digital and printed publications, have been consciously measuring and reducing the environmental impact of its business activities. Following the official carbon footprint assessment completed in 2021, changes were introduced primarily in the media company’s operations, energy efficiency, packaging materials used for publications and the management of unsold copies to operate more sustainably. Recognizing that, in addition to the production and distribution of printed publications, digital media activities also generate a significant ecological burden, the publisher is now also starting to measure the carbon efficiency of its online media portfolio.
“As a media company, we have a responsibility not only to inform our readers about the possibilities of a more sustainable lifestyle but also to be more eco-conscious in terms of our own operational and production processes. This is especially true if a media company has an online media portfolio with outstanding attendance and data traffic since we already know that we must pay at least as much attention to the digital environmental impact as to the processes connected to print media activities, for example, our paper management,” said Tibor Kovács, CEO of Ringier Hungary.
In the first step, the media company will start measuring the carbon efficiency of the news site with the largest number of daily visitors in Hungary, Blikk.hu, in the summer of 2023. This may be followed later by the measurement of Kiskegyed.hu, Sportal.hu, Glamour.hu and EgészségKalauz.hu.
Ringier’s partner in the joint project is Carbon.Crane and the Website Carbon Monitor developed by the company, which makes it possible to measure the carbon emissions of the given website by examining the data usage, and offers solutions to reduce it, so that the visitors ultimately have a faster and better user experience, in addition, browse an environmentally friendly website.
“Each page view of websites generates data traffic between servers, which, in turn, generates a large amount of energy consumption and thus carbon dioxide emissions. The same is true for emailing and online marketing campaigns and the use of all digital technology in general. Monitoring a high-traffic and complex-structured website like blikk.hu is a time-consuming and huge task. Ringier Hungary wants to be a pioneer in this field since solutions are available to reduce the carbon emissions of websites, which can be used to achieve smaller digital ecological footprint, that neither the user experience provided by the website nor the number of visitors to the page is affected. By reducing the number of large visual elements, optimizing their size, using system fonts, and changing programmer settings, we can do a lot to ensure that page loads use less energy so that the website becomes more environmentally friendly. And this can be an attractive alternative for more and more visitors on the Internet – said György Huszics, managing director of Carbon.Crane, in connection with the cooperation.