International Earth Day

Every year since 1970, on April 22nd we celebrate International Earth Day. In recent years this has become more prominent than ever, with not only growing concern for our planet but also a growing appreciation.  

At doddle we are aware of our impact on the planet and want to make a difference. Developing applications in a sustainable way as well as designing those that make a direct impact is something that aligns with our core values. Throughout this blog we look at exploring sustainable technology and highlight some of success stories where we have worked with like-minded businesses to make a positive difference. Innovation meets sustainability.  

Green technology, or sustainable technology, refers to the development and application of innovative solutions that minimise the negative impact on the environment while promoting conservation of natural resources. 

This includes technologies aimed at reducing pollution, conserving energy and water, minimising waste, and encouraging renewable energy sources. Our goal is continuing to practice this, and in turn help reduce our carbon footprint and promote renewable energy. This applies to everything from our working environment through to the software providers we choose to work with.  

A great success story for us was our partnership with RailX, a sustainable transport solution that uses clever technology and AI to provide customers with a place to book and manage rail freight transport, which as a mode of transport emits 75% less carbon compared to road. The platform is accessible to everyone allowing even the smallest freight shipments to be transported, making it an easy eco-friendly option for both enterprises and smaller companies.  

In the first six months from launch, RailX saw an impressive saving of over 250,000Kg of CO2.  

In a completely different space, we have also had the privilege of working with Finbridge Global, a sustainable financial platform that unites technology with innovation offering a bridge between fintech's and financial platforms. 

All fintechs are assessed against a detailed framework consisting of a series of questions which then ranks them and awards them an overall score. A core foundation of the assessment framework that Finbridge have developed is focussed on Environmental, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) looking specifically at what steps companies are taking to minimise their carbon impact. Many of Finbridge Globals’ early adopters have already demonstrated that organisations all around the world are now making a conscious decision to do better.  

The tech industry is the only industry on track to increase their emissions in 2024, already responsible for about 14% of total global emissions we need to act fast.  

With every click, stream and download using a few grams of carbon at a time, the need for more efficient tech is prevalent. Our doddle website is hosted on serverless architecture with Vercel, and for our digital solutions we leverage Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud, both of which have made strides in their reduction of CO2 emissions. AWS already allow for a reduction in emissions by 80% with the prospect of this increasing to a whopping 96%, when AWS is entirely powered with renewable energy. We can expect to see this in the near future as Amazon hold the title of the world's largest corporate buyer of renewable energy.  

Using a simplified technology platform such as low code, combined with truly cloud native hosting solutions means users can expect to run applications and produce only a fraction of the CO2 they have once before. Accenture suggest if we all migrated to a cloud native infrastructure, we could expect to see a saving of 48 million tonnes of carbon, suggesting that cloud native software is offering us a more sustainable future.  

As an agency specialising in OutSystems developments we are harnessing ecofriendly tech in every build we do, using low code and OutSystems Development Cloud (ODC) means much faster deployment time and far fewer lines of code – resulting in the much-needed lower energy consumption in application run time. There is also the benefit of minimised hardware requirements when building with OutSytems, reducing both the cost of development and the electronic waste.  

Although we focus on innovating with an ecofriendly mindset, we also make sure we are doing our bit in-house. As a team we encourage hybrid and remote working. This is common across many businesses since the pandemic, not only does it allow for a better work life balance for our team but also massively reduces our carbon footprint by removing the daily commute to work. Daily commuting, on average equates to 3.2 tonnes of CO2 per person per year, by adapting how we work as a team allows us to reduce our carbon footprint and give more quality time back to our team, meaning we are not missing the special moments with family and friends.  

The work is not yet done – we are still working hard to reduce our own carbon footprint and even the smallest eco-friendly steps can make a huge difference. As a business we continue to work towards a more sustainable future, and we look forward to working alongside like-minded clients on innovative projects that will hopefully have a lasting impact on the planet for years to come.