We are less than two weeks until the U.S. election. If you are American, particularly one of the swing states that could decide the aforementioned election (hello from that specific level of hell!), you are surrounded by a nonstop onslaught of nightmare scenarios on tv, radio, the internet, and your physical mailbox.

This is, unsurprisingly, ramping up my anxiety levels and scrambling my brain.

But today, I'm going to try to overcome the noise, pull together a wee bit of brainpower, and talk about the political effort that still astounds me: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.

Confusing name aside, this was the most remarkable, world-leading piece of climate legislation. It not only funded large-scale renewable energy projects, it funded education programs to train the workers needed to make it happen. We can't do it without them.

If you're reading this newsletter, you probably know why this matters, but let's put it into the context of sustainable content. Our digital content is nothing but energy. If we design our content sustainably and thoughtfully, we'll be using less energy and generating fewer emissions.

But less is not zero. We'll still need a substantial amount of energy to power our digital content. So, naturally, it makes sense that we want reduce emissions from the energy we do use. Even Microsoft, which is diving deeply into the AI pool, is making (possibly unrealistic) commitments to reducing net emissions by 2030. (See "What I've been reading" below.)

And while content is just a small piece of the puzzle, it mirrors all of the key actions for climate success: reduced consumption combined with cleaner resources.

I only have one vote to influence the election in November, but I have the tools that I need to continue influencing the carbon footprint of digital data every day. I'm going to do what I can, regardless of the election outcome.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will be publishing its first net zero standard in late 2025. While they're a little late to the party, I have hope that these standards will be adopted into corporate processes just like existing ISO 9000 quality standards.

Microsoft has set commitments to be carbon negative by 2030. This is a game of complicated accounting, made even more challenging by the fact that their AI programs are using more energy than ever before, not less. They're looking into technologies that suck carbon out of the air and stash it away. No large-scale solutions exist for carbon capture.

​Amazon bought a massive site for its new data center in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Phoenix is a desert. The average data center uses 300,000 gallons (1,135,623 liters) of water daily for cooling. If that's the average, then presumably Phoenix — which recently set a record for 113 consecutive days over 113°F (45°C) would require even more.

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Consulting

​Reduce your Scope 3 emissions​

Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author