W3C publishes draft impact ratings for Web Sustainability Guidelines

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Sustainable Web Interest Group has published the first draft of a Group Note on impact ratings for its Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG).

The Web Sustainability Guidelines are intended to help organisations make websites and digital services more sustainable. This includes considering not only the environmental impact of running digital services, but also their effects on people and economic wellbeing.

The new draft provides a way to assess the expected impact of individual sustainability recommendations. Each guideline is evaluated across three areas: people, planet and prosperity. For example, a recommendation could have an environmental benefit by reducing the amount of energy needed to operate a website, while another could focus more on accessibility or the social impact of a digital service.

Each guideline receives an impact rating ranging from indeterminate to low, medium or high. It is also assigned a timeframe indicating whether its expected impact would appear in the short, medium or long term.

These two factors are combined into an impact score. The score is intended to help organisations compare different recommendations and decide which actions to prioritise. A higher score indicates a greater expected impact within a shorter timeframe.

Not every aspect of web sustainability can be measured precisely. Where reliable quantitative data is unavailable, the ratings are based on existing research and expert assessment. The draft also explains the reasoning behind each rating and timeframe and, where possible, suggests metrics that organisations can use to measure the results in practice.

The document is currently a draft Group Note rather than a final W3C standard. The publication provides a framework for discussing and comparing the expected effects of different sustainability measures as work on the guidelines continues.