Every online activity has an energy cost, and therefore an environmental cost. Digital advertising is no exception. Quebec-based adtech firm Sharethrough has developed a solution to “measure” and “offset” the carbon footprint of online advertising. Interview with Benoît Skinazi, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Sharethrough, who talks about their new “green programmatic platform” product launched last June.
We don’t always realize it, but surfing the Internet pollutes… That’s the problem?
Benoît Skinazi : Our computers don’t make smoke and don’t consume fuel, so it’s not obvious that the Internet pollutes. But running the servers that host Web sites, displaying the pages of a site or navigating a Web application requires a lot of energy. And this consumption generates carbon emissions. Moreover, it is estimated that 2% of global CO2 emissions come from online browsing.
How much of this browsing comes from online advertising?
B.S.: It is estimated at 10% of global browsing. On average, one advertising display generates one gram of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. For comparison, 1 million ad impressions is the equivalent of a flight from Boston to London.
How do you address this type of pollution?
B.S.: As an ad platform, we asked ourselves what we could do to help decarbonize the programmatic ad supply chain. For us, the first step was to be able to measure the footprint of an online ad campaign. To do this, we partnered with Scope3, a firm that specializes in this type of calculation. With this information in hand, we are now in a position to offer advertisers the possibility of using “green” programmatic purchasing platforms [PMPs] that allow them to offset their carbon emissions by making a contribution to decarbonization initiatives.
So the idea here is to “offset” and not to reduce emissions, right?
B.S.: Exactly. Scope3 is associated with Carbon Direct, a certified green project investment company, which offers a variety of green investments. The best-known example is planting trees, but this is not necessarily the most effective project in the short term. Advertisers can choose to invest in green projects that include planting trees, installing air filtration systems or creating a clean energy project.
Does this require a significant contribution from advertisers?
B.S.: It can vary from 3 to 20 cents per CPM (cost per thousand ad impressions), depending on the efficiency of the ad supply chain; is the site efficient, are there several intermediaries, etc. On average, we see a cost per thousand ad impressions that is more or less the same as the CPM. On average, we’re seeing a cost of 10 cents per CPM, but that’s going to go down as technology firms and content publishers improve the efficiency of their site.
And what is the response from brands so far?
B.S.: Officially launched in June, we now have over 1,500 brands spending ad dollars on green PMPs. Brands are testing; we’re seeing a lot of traction in the U.K. and Europe; Canada and the U.S. are following. We are currently in strategic discussions with brands to make this a real program and educate their employees. Thousands of companies have committed to becoming “carbon neutral” by 2025, 2030 or 2035, and we are in a position to help them achieve this goal.
