Empowering Users to Make Sustainability-Forward Decisions for Computing Services

"Green consumerism," is the idea that consumers' decision to purchase or not to purchase an item is mediated at least partly by considering the item's impact on environmental or social conditions.9 In response to a general upswell of awareness around sustainable development goals (SDGs) and climate change, large corporations such as Google and Amazon have provided users with tangible sustainable choices. For example, when checking out on Amazon, if a customer has more than one item in an order, they can opt into Amazon Day, which delays shipping until all items are available to be placed in the same shipping box. Additionally, Amazon allows users to filter a search to only show items containing a climate pledge certification. Similarly, Google's search engine allows users to filter for low-emission options when searching for flights, as well as enabling users to search eco-certified hotels when booking travel plans.