Why did we develop this toolkit?
Digital preservation activities inevitably generate environmental impacts. Our digital preservation actions rely on the use of electricity to power the infrastructure necessary to process, ingest, store, maintain, and disseminate digital content. Electricity and heat production are the largest sources of greenhouse gases, which are damaging the environment (see for example Breakdown of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions by sector). Digital preservation also relies on the use of equipment which has its own carbon footprint over its whole life cycle, from production to disposal.
As organizations increasingly rely on digital systems to preserve, manage, and provide access to born-digital and digitized content, understanding and reducing the associated carbon footprint has become an important part of responsible stewardship – balancing the needs of the digital content we are preserving with the environmental impact of our preservation activities.
Gathering the data needed to understand your organization’s carbon footprint can inform decisions on how to reduce emissions. It may also enable your organization to become more efficient and effective in reviewing and recording working practices. This activity is not done in isolation, and you will need to get your organization to buy into the importance of environmental sustainability (if they have not already done so).
The advocacy challenge is not helped by the plethora of myths and misconceptions around the impact of digital preservation on the environment (along with widely held – but incorrect – beliefs regarding the impact of IT in general). We have gathered a few of these in Myths and Legends along with the countering realities. You may find them useful as you advocate for carrying out this work. If you want to better understand the environmental impact of digital preservation, we have prepared a handy reading list.
As technologies, methodologies, and understanding evolves, this toolkit will be updated and refined in collaboration with the digital preservation community. Feedback, shared experiences, and additional case studies are welcome to support the continued development of this work. Do contact us with comments and suggestions.
What can this toolkit be used for?
This toolkit has been developed to support organizations undertaking digital preservation to understand, measure, and reduce the carbon footprint of their activities in a practical and proportionate way. It responds to growing interest within the digital preservation community for clear, actionable guidance that can be applied across a wide range of organizational contexts, technical infrastructures, and levels of experience with environmental reporting.
The toolkit provides:
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A conceptual framework for understanding where carbon emissions arise across digital preservation services, aligned with the DPC Rapid Assessment Model (RAM).
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Practical guidance on scoping and planning a carbon footprinting exercise, including how to define boundaries, prioritize effort, and manage uncertainty.
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An Excel-based carbon calculation tool, designed to help organizations estimate emissions associated with on-premise infrastructure, cloud services, networking, end-user activity, and non-digital administrative functions.
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Advice on data gathering, estimation, and transparency, recognizing that perfect data is rarely available and that informed estimates are often sufficient to support decision-making.
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A set of actionable strategies for reducing carbon emissions, spanning infrastructure choices, policy decisions, operational practices, procurement, and user access.
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Case studies illustrating how this toolkit has been used in practice by a range of different organizations.
This toolkit is intended for use by digital preservation practitioners, service managers, infrastructure leads, and policymakers within organizations who have a remit to preserve digital content for the long term (including libraries, archives, museums, research organizations, and related institutions). It is designed to support both initial exploratory assessments and more structured, repeatable measurement over time. While carbon footprinting is only one aspect of environmental sustainability, it provides a meaningful and accessible starting point for organizations seeking to understand the environmental implications of their digital preservation work.
The goal is not to produce exact or comprehensive life-cycle assessments, but to enable organizations to identify major sources of emissions, make informed trade-offs, and embed environmental considerations into strategic planning and everyday practice. Carbon footprinting is an iterative process, supporting continuous improvement rather than one-off reporting.
It is important to remember that carbon footprint is just one measure of our impact on the environment. It is a good starting point and is the specific area we have chosen to focus on within this toolkit, however it should be acknowledged that there are other considerations that can be factored into environmentally aware decision making - for example, we have noted throughout that embodied carbon is an aspect not covered by this toolkit. Other factors not covered include pollution, resource depletion, biodiversity loss and environmental justice. It is helpful to recognise the complex web of socio-political and economic issues within which climate change sits. Be aware when using this toolkit and considering ways of reducing your carbon footprint that this is not the only measure of our impact on the planet.
It can be overwhelming to know where to begin, but a service map and the carbon footprint calculation tool in this toolkit are practical starting points. Remember that you don’t have to be an expert and you don’t have to do everything at once. Learn by doing, ask questions, and share your experiences with the community. Every small step you take will teach you something and move you closer to your goals. Soon you will be able to embed environmental sustainability considerations in the reporting, planning, strategy, and everyday actions of your digital preservation service.
At the DPC we are committed to reducing our own carbon footprint as well as providing advice and practical tools to the community. We hope to provide opportunities for you to share your experiences and compare standardised information that you have gathered with your peers. Knowing that you are not tackling this challenge alone is always reassuring!