Responsible Digital and Eco-Design Policy
XPATH.GLOBAL S.R.L. · Corporate Social Responsibility
1. Purpose and scope
This Policy establishes the responsible-digital and eco-design framework applied by xpath.global to the design, development and operation of its digital platform. It applies to all product and engineering teams.
2. Adopted reference framework
xpath.global adopts a responsible-digital design reference framework, aligned with recognised responsible-digital / eco-design good-practice guides (e.g. the GR491 responsible digital services design guide) and with the principles of frugality, accessibility, data protection and lifecycle management. Digital sobriety is a stated objective of our product teams.
3. Principles
- Eco-design and frugality: minimise the resources consumed by our software (optimised media, efficient code, optimised delivery and infrastructure).
- Accessibility: design and maintain the product in line with WCAG 2.1 AA (see our Digital Accessibility Commitment).
- Data protection and lifecycle: the platform is GDPR-compliant and operated under an ISO/IEC 27001:2022-certified information-security system; a regular review ensures obsolete data are managed and deleted in line with defined retention rules.
- Responsible evolution: each new functionality integrates responsible-digital considerations, and user feedback is taken into account.
4. Governance and training
- Responsible-digital referents are appointed and communicated internally.
- xpath.global commits to training more than 60% of its product teams on responsible-digital and eco-design topics, and to maintaining a good-practices repository accessible to all teams.
5. Eco-design action plan
Based on an internal review of our platform, the following actions are prioritised:
| Action | Baseline (observed) | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Optimise and modernise images | Image library ~203 MB; many files >200 KB unoptimised; a single asset in a modern format (WebP) | ≥90% of images optimised and served in next-gen formats (WebP); significant reduction of image payload |
| Control delivered code size | No size budget on JavaScript delivered to the browser (only a per-component style limit) | Define and enforce a JavaScript bundle-size budget |
| Enable production caching | Offline / production caching disabled | Enable caching in production to reduce repeated transfers |
| Systematise lazy loading & code-splitting | Code-splitting (10 modules) and lazy image loading (37 locations) exist but are not applied systematically | Apply lazy loading and code-splitting as a systematic standard |
6. Life-cycle and eco-conception approach
xpath.global applies an eco-conception approach to its digital service, informed by life-cycle thinking and the principles of the ISO 14040 environmental life-cycle assessment standard. We identify the environmental impacts of our service across several stages of its life cycle:
- Development / production — good coding practices, frugality and optimised assets.
- Usage — energy and data efficiency (image optimisation, delivered-code size, caching, lazy loading).
- End of life — responsible management of IT equipment (reuse and recycling) and of data (deletion of obsolete data under defined retention rules).
The eco-design action plan in section 5 aims to lower resource use and to increase the share of reused / recycled resources across these stages. Employees are progressively trained on eco-design and responsible-digital topics, and the approach will be deepened over time toward a fuller life-cycle assessment.
7. Eco-design KPI
xpath.global commits to tracking and reporting an eco-design KPI and to integrating it into the contract. Proposed KPI: median page weight (KB) and share of images served in next-gen formats (%). Methodology: measured on representative key pages using standard web-performance tooling, with a defined baseline and periodic review against the targets above.
8. Monitoring, review and continuous improvement
This Policy and its action plan are reviewed at least annually. Progress is measured through the KPI above and the responsible-digital referents report on implementation.