We all say sustainability is important, but are we showing it?

Earlier this month, a new report on sustainability in business found that an overwhelming majority of senior leaders say sustainability for commercial success is important. Even better, 95% of respondents reported high quality sustainability data as ‘very or fairly important’.

We’re all in agreement that sustainability can drive business value, and that having sustainability data is incredibly important — so, what’s the catch?

The study also found a significant gap between what we are saying and what’s actually being done.

Leaders are describing themselves as committed to sustainability, but less than half see it as integrated into the core business, and ONLY 27% reported having access to the sustainability data they deem vital.

As tenured Harvard professor Robert G. Eccles states in an OpEd on the study, “It is one thing to issue the mantra ‘Sustainability is key to value creation!’ It is quite another to show it.”

Something needs to change.

Closing the sustainability gap in digital advertising

Across digital advertising, there’s certainly no shortage of sustainability commitments. There’s also a number of examples that prove sustainable advertising is good for business (look at our latest case studies here and here !).

So, how can we be sure leaders in our industry can close the gap between knowing that sustainability matters and actually integrating it into how we do things?

• First, sustainability can’t live in a silo. Embedding sustainable action and carbon reduction into the entire advertising process means taking those two needs into account and being intentional in what we do at every stage.From creative and production teams to account management departments and all the people that touch an ad in post-production through to delivery, everyone must respond to campaign ideas with a sensitivity towards how their choices impact not only the environment, but also the behaviors they promote.Green teams are wonderful, but when we silo this work there is a risk that it becomes secondary to the more dominant priorities of effectiveness, budget and concept.
• Second, granular data is a must-have, not a nice-to-have. The industry needs full visibility of ad emissions ecosystem-wide. Getting there requires modeling every piece of our complex value chains using granular and dynamic data. It also requires all links in the chain to contribute data that can be consolidated into one centralized place — it’s the only way to have a comprehensive view at where we stand today.Our industry’s ability to decarbonize is highly dependent on the accuracy of the data used to inform our decision making. We must close the adoption gap between the previously mentioned 27% using high-quality data and the 95% who say it’s important.

Scope3 is working to make both of these a reality for the entire digital ad industry — offering a centralized place for all industry stakeholders to access robust and granular advertising emissions data through our Collaborative Sustainability Platform. Together let’s close the gap and show, rather than tell, the world how digital advertising is embracing sustainability.

ICYMI — Highlights from the past month

• The Scope3 team continues to grow. Earlier this month, David Fischer joined Scope3 to lead our global ad tech partnerships and Rosa Markarian started as Head of Central Europe to spearhead our expansion into Germany and beyond. We’ve also expanded global research and services, buyer development and account management teams. Read more about the growing team (and check out our open roles) here .
• How a push toward sustainability put one publisher back in control. Scope3’s work with a top 100 global publisher (based on traffic) and their ad ops team led to an impressive 70% decrease in the publisher’s average emissions from digital advertising. Find more about this case study here .
• What’s the relationship between fraud and carbon emissions? Given what we already know about waste online (there is a strong correlation between things like MFA and high carbon inventory), we conducted our own study in conjunction with FouAnalytics "see Fou yourself" to explore the environmental impact of fraudulent clicks. Read the analysis here .
• Vote for June as a leading woman in tech. Our head of JAPAC June Cheung has been nominated for B&T ’s “Women Leading Tech” Awards in Australia, and we need your help to secure the win. June has been the driving force behind the successes of our brand, agency and publisher partners in the region, while also bringing more awareness to how the industry can take action to decarbonize. Cast your vote now !

Finally, where in the world is Scope3??You can find us at the following events in the coming weeks:

• Programmatic Summit Australia — 7 March (Sydney, Australia) <- on stage with Bank Australia and Alchemy One (B Corp)
• d3con — 13 March (Hamburg, Germany)
• SXSW — 7 - 11 March (Austin, Texas)
• IAB & OMA: Powering DOOH — 4 April (Sydney, Australia)
• ShareThrough Green Media Summit — 11 April (New York)
• Possible — 15 - 17 April (Miami, Florida)