Governments and businesses globally are setting net-zero targets and establishing sustainability goals as urgency around the climate crisis grows. To achieve those goals, businesses are investing in sustainable energy alternatives, reducing infrastructure energy output (one reason for the ‘great cloud migration’ in recent years), and implementing greener practices into their supply chains. Another, yet often overlooked, area they could make ‘green’ is their digital supply chain.

Research indicates the entire online ecosystem equates to 3.5% of all global emissions. For UK consumers, 32% of each person’s carbon footprint now comes from the ads they see and receive. If there’s any hope to achieve net-zero targets, digital advertising can’t be ignored. The good news is that adopting sustainable practices will not only reduce the emissions generated from the ad industry,  but also improve the ad ecosystem to benefit every major stakeholder: consumers, brands and publishers.

The elephant in the server room

Emissions from digital advertising are a global problem – the latest Scope3 data shows that, combined, digital display (incl. app and video) and streaming ads produce 7.2 million metric tons of emissions every year across 30 countries or the equivalent of yearly electricity usage for 1.4 million households.

Per 1000 impressions, this figure averages at approximately 330gCO₂PM, the same amount of energy as washing a load of laundry. With billions of impressions served daily, per-impression emissions accumulate into massive overall impacts. Moreover, much of this advertising is inefficiently targeted or even unseen, compounding the waste.

There’s a clear and urgent need for change.

Tackling ad emissions will require addressing both the scale and inefficiency of current practices. Even marginal reductions in wasted impressions and ineffective targeting could significantly mitigate the industry’s carbon footprint. But the data makes clear that piecemeal changes are not enough – transforming digital advertising into a sustainable practice demands collective change to how ads are delivered in programmatic, and digital more broadly, today.

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Emissions data pinpoints improvement opportunities

Recent studies have exposed opportunities to make advertising more sustainable. The data reveals widespread inefficiency with over 60% of ad emissions attributed to supply chain activity and ad selection alone.

Further analysis shows 12-14% of ad inventory falls into the category of climate risk, meaning the sites those ads appear on produce higher carbon emissions per impression. Made-for-advertising sites (MFA) are a subset of climate risk, and they are pervasive in digital advertising despite being a known problem.

According to a report by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), placement on MFA websites by brands was an average of 21%, equating to 15% of ad spend. Without addressing the quantity of MFA placements, ad campaigns will consistently underperform, as these placements diminish sustainability savings and performance.

These insights allow the ad industry to make impactful reduction decisions Avoiding climate risk inventory and pulling spend from MFA sites are two tangible ways brands can lower their footprints.

Having emissions data at our fingertips illuminates a clear pathway to a better digital ad ecosystem. But it is leveraging that data and taking action that allows us to truly capitalize on these opportunities to reduce waste and inefficiency industry wide – something brands and publishers have been demanding for some time.

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The promise of a green future

This movement marks a pivotal opportunity to reshape the digital ecosystem. Beyond reducing environmental impact, optimizing ad delivery for sustainability can improve the digital ad experience for consumers, brands, and publishers alike.

Not only has viewing media through a sustainability lens revealed how greener media often aligns with other campaign goals around privacy, performance and attention, but we’ll see a ripple effect of other benefits.

As brands shift more spend toward eco-friendly inventory, reputable publishers with engaging content will capture more revenue. Conversely, sites fueled by intrusive and misleading ads could see revenues dry up. And, prioritizing low-carbon inventory can simultaneously address issues common with fraudulent publishers,  like privacy violations and the spread of rampant misinformation.

Recognizing the emissions impact of advertising has moved the industry in the right direction, but it’s just a small step forward. We must embrace the environmental boons and leverage them to help us fix a broken system once and for all.