Working Draft

We caught up with Chris Adams (LinkedIn / Bluesky / Mastodon) at mittwald’s Head in the Cloud festival to talk about one of the less visible aspects of our industry: the energy that powers the internet. Chris is Director of Tech and Policy at the Green Web Foundation, where he works on making the web less dependent on fossil fuels and helping the industry understand the environmental impact of our digital infrastructure.

Shownotes

[00:00:27] What does a Fossil-Free Internet look like in Germany?

Chris starts by explaining why Germany is such an interesting place to discuss a fossil-free internet. As Europe’s largest economy and one of its most important data centre markets, Germany has a lot of leverage when it comes to making digital infrastructure more sustainable. At the same time, the German electricity mix can vary significantly depending on how much wind and solar power is available at any given moment.

The conversation is not only about building more renewable energy. Chris also highlights the importance of battery storage and making smarter use of the energy that is already available. The goal is to take advantage of periods with abundant renewable power and reduce the need to rely on fossil fuel generation.

A central theme is the growing demand for compute, particularly because of the current boom in generative AI. While large parts of the tech industry had been moving towards decarbonisation, the Green Web Foundation now sees signs of a reversal, with new data centres being built that increase dependence on fossil fuels instead of reducing it.

From the State of the Fossil-Free Internet 2026 report, Chris derives three main areas of action. First, we need to manage demand for compute more consciously. Efficient software, thoughtful architecture and a more deliberate use of resources matter more than ever.

Second, we need to actually green the energy supply. Instead of relying only on certificates or offsetting emissions on paper, companies should choose providers that organise their power supply through a meaningful mix of renewable energy sources and storage.

The third point concerns the structure of the market itself. Chris argues for a more diverse ecosystem of hosting and cloud providers and warns against increasing concentration among a small number of hyperscalers. Their priorities do not always align with wider societal or climate goals, while a more diverse provider landscape can create more accountability and better sustainability outcomes.

In the end, the takeaway is that the energy powering digital services is not an abstract background detail. As developers and operators of digital products, we should understand where that energy comes from and which choices we can make to help build a more fossil-free internet.

Links

The Green Web Foundation

The organisation working towards a fossil-free internet and publishing research and tools around sustainable web development.

State of the Fossil-Free Internet 2025

The latest report on the internet’s dependence on fossil fuels and the actions needed to decarbonise digital infrastructure.

Electricity Maps

A service for exploring the carbon intensity of electricity grids around the world in near real time.

CO2.js

A JavaScript library for estimating the carbon emissions associated with digital products and websites.

carbon.txt

An open standard that allows website owners to publish sustainability information about their digital services in a machine-readable format.

Web Sustainability Guidelines

A W3C community initiative that provides guidance for building more environmentally sustainable websites and digital products.

Ember

An independent energy think tank that publishes data and research on the global transition to clean electricity.

Firefox Performance Tools

Firefox’s built-in performance tooling, mentioned as an example of measuring and improving the efficiency of web applications.

The video of the talk will be available soon on mittwald’s YouTube channel.