And What the Website Carbon Calculator Just Revealed About Pooka
Most people think of carbon emissions in terms of travel, heating, packaging or supply chains. But here’s a surprising truth: your website has a carbon footprint too and for many organisations, it’s bigger than you’d expect.
Every page view transfers data. Every script, image, plugin and animation adds weight. And each kilobyte sent to a visitor carries an energy cost.
That’s where the Website Carbon Calculator comes in.
It’s a simple, powerful tool that measures the environmental impact of any webpage and highlights how small digital changes can make a very real difference.
The Myths We Need to Bust
MYTH: “Digital is clean because we don’t print anything.”
REALITY: The internet accounts for 3.7% of global carbon emissions similar to the aviation industry.
MYTH: “Page builders and heavy templates don’t affect sustainability.”
REALITY: They absolutely do. Every unnecessary script, layout library, and plugin adds weight → more energy → higher emissions.
MYTH: “A slow site is just a usability problem.”
REALITY: Slow = heavy = high carbon. In fact, over half of mobile users leave after 3 seconds, which is bad for user experience and the planet.
MYTH: “Cheap website builds are harmless.”
REALITY: Sites overloaded with page builders can ship megabytes of unnecessary code, driving energy use up with every single visit. (Poor for sustainability, poor for SEO, poor for users.)
How Pooka Performed And Why It Matters
We tested the Pooka & Co homepage using the Website Carbon Calculator, and here’s what we found:
✨ Pooka.co scores an A+ sustainability rating. Cleaner than 95% of all web pages globally
✨ Each visit to our homepage produces only 0.02g of CO₂. To put that in context: You would need 50,000+ page views to equal the emissions of boiling a kettle once.
✨ Our site is powered by sustainable energy. Our hosting partner uses renewable energy and green infrastructure meaning the emissions are even lower in real terms.
This isn’t an accident. It’s the direct result of making intentional decisions:
✔ Core WordPress over heavy page builders
✔ Lightweight bespoke theme (no unnecessary scripts)
✔ Clean, semantic, accessible code
✔ Optimised images + minimal plugins
✔ Efficient hosting powered by renewables
Good for performance and accessibility, and importantly good for the planet. Exactly how the web should be.
Why Charities, Public Sector Teams & Good Causes Should Care
You don’t need to be an environmental organisation to care about sustainable design. Most charities and mission-led organisations hold values around stewardship, fairness, community, and long-term impact. Your website should reflect those values too.
A lean, accessible build:
- loads faster
- ranks better
- costs less over time
- reduces digital emissions
- and is easier for your team to manage.
Sustainability isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s a practical, ethical, strategic choice that benefits everyone.
Try It Yourself: Test Your Website’s Carbon Footprint
You can check your organisation’s current site here:
👉 https://www.websitecarbon.com
It takes less than 30 seconds.
And if your score surprises you, or sparks a few questions, we’re always happy to chat through what can be improved, what’s weighing your site down, and where you’ll get the biggest wins.
The greenest websites aren’t just efficient. They’re simpler, faster, more accessible, and kinder to run. At Pooka, we don’t just build for today, we build for the next decade. Your website can be beautiful, powerful, and sustainable all at once.
And if ours can score an A+ while running on renewable energy… yours can too.
A last little note:
Carbon calculators are useful, but they rely on averages, they can’t fully account for where your site is hosted or where your users are visiting from, and different countries’ energy grids vary hugely in how clean they are.
Get In Touch
We’d love to hear what you’re up to. Please get in touch using hello@pooka.co or through the form linked below. Don’t be shy!
