Sustainability
Sustainable hosting for the planet & our future generations
Digital technologies and the internet use significant amounts of energy.
When it comes to websites’ hosting, the energy consumption of its data centres and servers contribute to the deterioration of the planet.
At the UCL-Japan Youth Challenge, we challenge ourselves to make a difference to our future generations.
We carefully selected hosting providers that use sustainable energy sources.
Google Cloud
The UCL-Japan Youth Challenge’s website is hosted on Google Cloud’s sustainable, state of the art network.
Google uses 100% renewable energy consumed by their global data centres.
Their commitment to carbon neutral has long been established since 2007, and is a leader in sustainability in the technology industry.
Data centre location & CDN
The UCL-Japan Youth Challenge’s website is aimed for participants and their teachers and family members both in the UK and Japan.
Since the UCL-Japan Youth Challenge Committee Office, which maintains this website, is located in the UK, our Google Cloud’s data centre is also in the UK.
To improve experience for website visitors from outside the UK, and importantly to reduce energy usage, our website uses a Content Delivery Network (CDN), Cloudflare.
CDNs essentially help internet content load faster regardless of the geographical relation between the data centre and the visitor, meaning less energy is used.
Cloudflare is committed to using 100% renewable energy.
The Green Web Foundation
The Green Web Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in the Netherlands, founded as Green Web Check in 2006.
Their ambition is to turn the internet fossil-free by 2030.
They visualise how websites are powered, and check if websites’ hosting providers are using green energy for the services.
According to the Green Web Hosting’s Green Web Checker, the UCL-Japan Youth Challenge’s website is hosted green, meaning that this website’s hosting provider is using green energy.
Website Carbon Calculator
Website Carbon Calculator calculates the carbon emissions attributed to a website.
Online programmes
The UCL-Japan Youth Challenge Committee selected Zoom and Slack for our online programmes between 2020 and 2022.
Both Zoom Video Communications, Inc., and Slack Technologies, LLC and Slack Technologies Limited focus on sustainability to become fully carbon neutral by 2030.
The light-weighted platforms’ ease of use allows us to hold programmes online for our participants across the globe while we minimise the impact on the environment.
