Platform.sh has announced the appointment of Leah Goldfarb as Environmental Impact Officer. In what is the first hire of its kind for the PaaS industry, Goldfarb will oversee the company’s greener web hosting strategy as Platform.sh looks to further reduce the digital carbon footprint of its large enterprise clients.
Holding a PhD in Atmospheric Science, Goldfarb has spent two decades working in environmental science and policy. Prior to joining Platform.sh, Goldfarb served as Senior Science Officer at the Technical Support Unit of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I, and before that as a Science Officer at the International Science Council, liaising with the United Nations around sustainable development. This appointment is a signal of intent by Platform.sh to offer responsible website scaling and fleet management and become a more sustainable business. Under Goldfarb’s lead, Platform.sh is currently engaged in the B Corp certification process.
Due to the server density provided by Platform.sh, businesses of all sizes can reduce their carbon emissions. Platform.sh uses proprietary technology to increase density by up to 12 times and cut energy usage by up to 10 times. Data centre location can also make a huge difference to CO2 emissions. Through Platform.sh’s API, developers of companies such as Nestlé can access environmental information to see which regions use less CO2, meaning they can make more informed greener decisions and help improve their company’s digital carbon footprint.
Goldfarb’s initial focus at Platform.sh will be on measurement, and then continued optimisation: currently Platform.sh is looking to measure the impact of its clients’ carbon emissions and optimise deployments and further improve application performance monitoring.
“Working in climate science and policy, I was writing reports for decision makers who didn’t always do enough with the scientific information provided. I joined Platform.sh because the company and I have the same shared goal, to have a positive impact on the environment,” said Goldfarb. “While the ITC sector is estimated to be responsible for 4% of the global greenhouse gases emissions, it is also in a unique place to make a difference when it comes to the planet due to its forward-thinking approach and scale. At Platform.sh, we want to play our part in contributing to reduced emissions by curbing companies’ emissions and helping them be more carbon conscious.”
