Website accessibility and carbon emissions

We have created a digital space that is both aligned with our values and helps us advance our mission. We are committed to taking concrete actions to ensure our website is highly accessible and has low carbon emissions. These actions include but are not limited to:

·       Accessible colour palette: Our website uses an inclusive colour palette that conforms with AAA and AA standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Text and background colours have sufficient contrast to be easily readable by all users, including those with visual impairments.

·      Image optimisation: We prioritise the use of fewer images on our website and implement advanced image optimisation techniques to reduce the overall file size. This not only enhances the website's loading speed but also decreases energy consumption for both our servers and users' devices.

·    Responsive design: Our website is designed with a responsive layout, ensuring it adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices most used across different geographies, including Google Chrome (latest version), Firefox (latest version), Microsoft Edge (latest version) and Safari (latest version). This promotes accessibility and reduces the need for additional resources to render the site on various platforms.

·       Font type and size: We use system fonts only to reduce the reliance on custom fonts that require additional server resources to load. This approach not only improves loading times and lower energy consumption but also significantly enhances accessibility. System fonts are widely recognised and readily available on all operating systems and devices, ensuring our content is legible to a broader audience, regardless of their assistive technologies or settings.

·       Efficient code: Our development team prioritises clean and efficient code practices, including minimising the use of unnecessary scripts and libraries. This helps reduce the website's carbon footprint by decreasing server processing requirements.

·       Multilingual content: Our website uses a content management system (CMS) that allows easy translation into multiple languages with the use of freely available online translation tools. We are committed to breaking down language barriers to ensure that our content is accessible to a diverse global audience.

·       Renewable hosting: We host the website on servers powered by renewable energy sources, aiming to minimise the carbon emissions associated with hosting and data storage.

We commit to conducting periodic accessibility audits to ensure our website complies with the latest accessibility standards, making it user-friendly for everyone, regardless of their abilities.