Impact reports > 2024 Impact report
2024
Impact Report
Our journey this year
Foreword
2024 was a very meaningful and impactful year for us at erjjio, but it wasn’t an easy ride.
After a challenging 18 month journey, we were delighted to achieve our B Corp certification in February, with a score of 103.8 and a particular strength in the Environment category.
Following this milestone, we switched our focus to a carbon rating innovation project for our client websites. The project was very successful and we’re proud of the results we achieved.
However, the strong double-digit revenue growth we had achieved in previous years unfortunately plateaued in 2024, mainly due to one of our largest clients being acquired and subsequently switching over to the parent company’s incumbent agency during the year.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that AI is disrupting our world in previously unimaginable ways. Whilst there are some benefits, the world is also witnessing negative and deeply troubling impacts. Not just in terms of data centre emissions (Goldman Sachs estimates that data centre power demand will grow 160% by 2030, and GenAI is projected to increase data centre emissions by 300%), but also the sudden removal of the need for many human jobs and creativity. These are existential problems which currently have no obvious solution in sight.
With that said, we must remain positive and hopeful about the future. We will continue to work hard and play our part in building a better world for future generations.
Stay strong.
Ben Clifford
Founder & Managing Director
Our purpose
At erjjio, we strongly believe in using business as a force for good, for people and the planet. Ultimately, our vision is to create:
A sustainable world, in which we lead fun and fulfilling lives
Our mission through which we strive to achieve that vision, is to:
Radically reduce the Internet’s environmental impact by creating low-carbon websites powered by 100% renewable energy
For our planet
UN Sustainable Development Goals
As always, taking action on climate change is at the heart of our mission, with a particular focus on the transition to renewable energy in data centres and a reduction of the Internet’s environmental impact. This focus aligns with #13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.
“Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.”
Website carbon
In late 2023 the widely used WebsiteCarbon.com tool launched a new carbon rating system (A+ down to F), inspired by the energy efficiency ratings of household appliances etc. As a result, in 2024 we set out to explore what it takes to achieve the top ratings, so we could aim to achieve this result for as many of our client websites as possible.
The project was very successful, and the vast majority of our client websites now achieve the top A or A+ carbon rating, with the remaining sites mostly achieving a very respectable “B” rating.
Some key figures:
- Over 80% of our clients now achieve an A or A+ carbon rating
- Our client sites are on average cleaner than 85% of all other sites tested globally
- On average each client site reduced its emissions by over 50% during the project
- We also launched a revamped, transparent and data-driven version of our Certified Green Website system
% OF CLIENTS WITH AN A OR A+ rating
80%
CLEANER THAN THIS % OF OTHER SITES TESTED GLOBALLY ON AVERAGE
85%
EMISSIONS REDUCED BY AN AVERAGE OF
50%
Digital Carbon Online & Cardamon
During 2024, we began trialling some innovative new website carbon calculation tools. Whereas the original Website Carbon tool tests one page of a website at a time (which is usually the homepage), a newer tool called Digital Carbon Online tracks the carbon rating of every page of the site, and combines it with the actual volume of visitor traffic for each page to estimate an aggregated carbon footprint for the site. Cardamon, a tool being developed by the team at Root & Branch, takes this a step further - by integrating backend server power usage data too. Cardamon is still in the beta phase and is expected to officially launch during 2025.
We are very pleased to see these latest innovations being developed by peers and partners in the low-carbon web community, and we’ll be exploring them further during 2025.
Tree planting
Through our ongoing partnership with Eden: People + Planet (which was rebranded from Eden Reforestation Projects this year), in 2024 we planted 1,852 trees on behalf of our clients, bringing our all time total trees planted to 20,384.
1,852
trees planted
Travel and co-working
During 2024, our coworking partner Second Home sadly underwent some downsizing, and the London Fields location we were based in closed down during the summer.
We carefully considered alternative options, with sustainability credentials at the core of our decision-making process, and chose a new location called White Collar Factory (part of the FORA portfolio) in the heart of East London’s Tech City / Silicon Roundabout area.
This building:
- Runs on 100% renewable electricity
- Achieves an 'excellent' BREEAM certification
- Integrates smart, energy-saving cooling and ventilation systems
- And even has a running track up on the roof!
Our entire team continues to work either from home, or within walking distance / a short bus ride from our new co-working space. All client meetings usually take place online, and when we occasionally attend London business events, we travel using local public transport. We therefore have an extremely low carbon footprint from travel.
Global Good Awards sponsorship
We are proud to have sponsored the Tech for Good category of the Global Good Awards for the 5th year running (including the provision of green hosting for their website). Founded in 2015, the GGA awards reward businesses, NGOs, charities and social enterprises of all shapes and sizes around the world, that are blazing the trail for purpose-driven sustainability and ethical leadership. They recognise leaders who are achieving practical, real-world impact that is both scalable and replicable – and who have inspiring stories to tell.
For our people
Team happiness
At the end of every year, we survey our whole team and ask for their feedback about what’s going well, what we should work on improving, and how happy they are in their role (out of 10). In 2024, the average happiness score was 92% (9.2 out of 10), which was the same as 2023. Team happiness is very important to us and while we’re proud of this result, we hope to move it even closer to 10 in next year’s survey.
Gender diversity
Our team of 8 people (including full-time and part-time) remained the same in 2024; the gender split is currently 50% female and 50% male.
50/50
Ethnicity
Southeast Asian
White British
South Asian
Volunteering
We have a paid-time-off volunteering policy in place and encourage our team members to get involved in local projects, particularly those relating to the environment.
In February, Ben spent 4 weeks mentoring 2 young people, through a partnership with a local Hackney organisation called EET (Employment Education Training) Group, which aims to support young people in the early stages of their careers, with a particular focus on helping them to learn tech and coding skills. In July, Ben also spent a week mentoring 2 computer science students from Alexandra Park School in North London.
In September, our lead developer Cris joined a tree-planting volunteering project at Sapang Bato Watershed in his local area of Angeles City, Philippines.
In 2025 we aim to continue exploring opportunities for our team to help out with environmental and social causes in our communities.
Healthcare
Since 2021, all core team members in our Philippines location have been provided with a comprehensive benefits package, including high-end private healthcare insurance, dental coverage and social security contribution matching.
Team growth
During 2024 our team size remained the same as in 2023, at 8 people in total; there was zero attrition. During 2025 and beyond we hope to grow the team further, and to support the community in London by offering opportunities to the local workforce too.
Clients and growth
Top clients
by revenue
Our top 5 clients by revenue in 2024 were 2 nonprofit organisations called the Institute of Fire Safety Manager (IFSM) and Rank Foundation, a leading sustainability consultancy called Planet Mark, a people-and-planet focused commercial cleaning company called Regular Cleaning, and a (now B Corp certified) production company called Locate Productions.
Incidentally, our Regular Cleaning client was the winner of the Sustainability Reporting category at the 2024 Planet Mark awards - having worked closely with us at erjjio to create a detailed, engaging and highly dynamic digital reporting format. We were delighted to support them and thrilled that the work was recognised with an award.
Client sector
breakdown
We are selective about the organisations we work with (as described in our Code of Ethics policy), and we aim for all accepted clients to share our commitment to environmental sustainability.
Some of our clients are particularly purpose-driven, such as sustainability consultancies and B Corp companies, and our breakdown for 2024 is shown below. “Standard businesses” are clients that don’t directly have an environmental or social purpose at the core of their mission, but are nonetheless likely to include sustainability as an important element of their values.
The total proportion of our revenue coming from purpose-driven businesses, charities and nonprofits in 2024 was 77%, which was the same as in 2023 - however the proportion from charity and nonprofit clients increased from 27% in 2023 to 43% in 2024. The total proportion of purpose-driven businesses, charities and nonprofit clients by number increased from 31% in 2023 to 41% in 2024.
Clients by number
Clients by revenue
Clients by revenue
Supporting charity work in Gaza
We began working with the Palestinian charity Welfare Association in 2022 and we are deeply saddened to observe the continuing devastation in Gaza. We remain committed to supporting their crucial efforts to provide aid to those in need, with over 1 million people in Gaza now facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and famine. We encourage you to donate to their emergency appeal if you can.
Revenue growth
After several years of strong top-line year-on-year growth averaging 45% since 2020, top-line revenue unfortunately dropped by 2% in 2024, with net profit also declining slightly from 12% in 2023 to 10% in 2024.
This decline was primarily the result of our largest client from 2023, Planet Mark, being acquired by a parent company called Alcumus and subsequently switching to their incumbent agency partner for web design and development during 2024, instead of working with erjjio.
2024 also felt like a challenging year overall in the marketplace, with economic headwinds continuing to affect UK business budgets and decision making.
In 2025, we aim to return to growth - with a renewed focus on marketing efforts to increase brand awareness of the work we do at erjjio. We’re very proud of the results we achieve for our clients and we would love to work with even more likeminded people - we would be sincerely grateful for any referrals or introductions you might be able to help with 🙂
Looking to the future
Our core goals and focus areas for 2025 will include:
Carbon emission measurement
As a very low-carbon business already, our focus in the past has primarily been on the measurement and reduction of website carbon emissions. However, we recognise the importance of formally tracking the carbon emissions of our business as a whole.
We aimed to begin tracking this in earnest during 2024, but we still haven’t got it in place yet. With most of our emissions relating to our server use and digital emissions however, we are looking forward to exploring the much more granular emissions data that the Cardamon tool is anticipated to provide. We aim to combine this with broader footprinting work during 2025.
New B Corp standards
We are aware that the B Corp certification process and standards are in the process of going through a substantial transformation, which is due to be finalised and announced in 2025. We will explore these changes once announced, and the further work that is likely to be needed for us to pursue our future recertifications.
Volunteering
Building on our volunteering and community work in 2024, we aim for the whole erjjio team to get involved in further volunteering projects, using paid days off from work.
Onwards!
