Like the recycler who takes extra care to separate their low-density polyethylene from their polypropylene, companies often go to great lengths to show off their environmental bona fides.
But how bad is digital advertising for the environment?
Well, first, how bad is the internet? Apparently, its impact is roughly the same as the aviation industry, which, while estimates may vary a bit, most likely makes up 3.5% of “all human activities that drive climate change,” a 2020 study from Manchester Metropolitan University found. The internet, along with its associated products and systems, accounts for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions, per estimates cited by the BBC in 2020.
Of that 4%, it’s difficult to gauge how much comes from digital advertising specifically. Amy Williams, cofounder and CEO of ad-tech B corp Good-Loop, told Marketing Brew the space is “unexplored,” but that one estimate says it’s around 2%...*does math*...meaning digital ads could account for roughly .08% of total greenhouse emissions.
The average digital ad campaign emits 5.4 tonnes of carbon, the COO of Good-Loop, Ryan Cochrane, wrote in an opinion piece for Ad Age. For comparison, the “average carbon footprint” for a person in the US is 16 tons per year, The Nature Conservancy says.
Sustainable…ads?
Good-Loop’s been trying to make digital advertising more ethical and sustainable since its inception in 2017. Companies and advertisers “want to have a social impact. How can we build media products, advertising technology products that actually put that intention into action,” Williams said. It’s “ad-tech for good.”
This year, Good-Loop created a tracking tool in the form of a pixel called “Green Ad Tag,” which can measure and track the carbon cost of digital campaigns, coupling the data transmissions that trigger ads with local energy consumption.
So far, the tag is being used by the British automaker MG Motor, which is offsetting its digital campaign by planting a tree for every thousand impressions served via Good-Loop’s “TreePM” program.
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Though Williams noted that offsets aren’t perfect, she argued that perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of good. “Helping these brands do good and get confident in doing good and seeing the positive results from that, that’s how we make progress happen,” she said.
Earlier this year, Good-Loop also debuted a “Carbon Calculator,” letting advertisers upload campaign assets and impressions to determine their carbon output.
Watch an ad, make a donation
The company, which has grown to 30 employees including freelancers, has two main products for advertisers—“Watch to Donate” and “Engage to Donate”—which, as you can probably tell, are built on the same principles: If someone sits through 10 to 15 seconds of an ad or engages with it, the brand will donate half of its media spend for that ad to a charity that the viewer can choose among several offered on the page.
- Clients so far have included Quaker Oats, Nature Valley, Nestlé, Pepsi, and Levi’s.
- As of September, Good-Loop says it has raised more than $3.5 million for charities like the National Park Foundation and Ronald McDonald House.
Though Williams says there’s a slight premium in cost, Good-Loop only charges per completed view, meaning it’s only paid when someone is willing to watch or engage with an advertisement, triggering a donation. But, it’s this altruism that she claims delivers more completed views than regular ads, leading to a 33% higher engagement-rate on average. Its technology is integrated within YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms.
“They pay for it with their ad dollars, and in exchange, they get significantly better engagement and brand uplift and ad recall,” Williams said. “It’s really memorable to get to do good every time you watch an ad.”