Environmental Policy

Haymade is a small, remote WordPress development company. Our environmental footprint is modest compared to manufacturing or logistics businesses, but that doesn’t let us off the hook. This policy sets out what we actually do — not what we aspire to in some distant future.

As a company well below the SECR reporting thresholds, we aren’t legally required to report on energy use or carbon emissions. We choose to hold ourselves accountable anyway.

Digital sustainability

The internet accounts for roughly 3.7% of global carbon emissions. As a company that builds and maintains websites for a living, the work itself is where we can make the biggest difference.

• We build lean, fast websites. Every kilobyte we cut from a page load means less energy used across every visit. Performance optimisation isn’t just good for users — it’s good for the planet.
• We optimise images aggressively: modern formats like WebP and AVIF, responsive sizing, lazy loading, and proper compression. Images often account for the majority of a page’s weight.
• We write efficient code and avoid unnecessary plugins, libraries, and third-party scripts. Less code means fewer server requests and less energy per page view.
• We regularly audit the sites we manage, removing unused assets, deactivating redundant plugins, and keeping things clean.
• We choose caching strategies and CDN configurations that reduce the number of round trips to origin servers.

Hosting and infrastructure

• We use Cloudflare for CDN and edge services. Cloudflare matches 100% of its global energy use with renewable energy purchases and has committed to Science Based Targets (SBTi) for emissions reduction.
• Where we use DigitalOcean, we deploy to the London data centre region, which is hosted in a facility powered by renewable energy. We don’t claim DigitalOcean is 100% green across all regions — it isn’t — so we’re deliberate about where we deploy.
• When evaluating new hosting providers for client projects, energy sourcing and environmental transparency are part of the decision.

Remote working

Haymade is a fully remote company. There is no daily commute, no office to heat, and no overhead lighting running all day. This is the single biggest thing a small team can do to reduce its carbon footprint.

• All meetings with clients happen over video call unless there’s a clear reason to meet in person.
• We embed directly into clients’ Slack workspaces and ticket boards, so there’s no need for status meetings that could be a message.
• When travel is necessary, we favour public transport and aim to keep journeys to a minimum.

Equipment and waste

• We run a paperless operation. Contracts, proposals, invoices, and documentation are all digital.
• When we do buy paper, it’s recycled.
• We keep hardware in use for as long as it’s practical, and when it’s not, we recycle or donate it through certified WEEE schemes.
• We choose suppliers who are transparent about their own environmental practices.

What we don’t do

We think honesty matters more than a list of pledges, so here’s what we haven’t done:

• We aren’t ISO 14001 certified. For a company our size, the overhead wouldn’t match the impact. We do use its principles as a reference point for how we think about environmental management.
• We don’t buy traditional carbon offsets, but we do contribute to Ecologi, which funds verified climate projects and tree planting. It’s not a substitute for reducing emissions at source, but it’s something we believe in alongside that.

Keeping this honest

This policy is reviewed annually. If something here stops being true, we’ll update it or remove it. If you spot something that doesn’t add up, tell us: [email protected].

Last reviewed: April 2026.