In a recent Media Briefing, Digiday+ members had exclusive access to insights around the Global Media Sustainability Framework being created to measure and report carbon emissions produced from digital advertising.

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Media Briefing: Sustainability standards are coming for digital advertising

By Kayleigh Barber, media editor

A lack of standards for measuring carbon emissions in the digital advertising industry has prevented sustainability from becoming a deciding factor for how ad budgets are executed, despite the fact that questions around carbon footprints have popped up on request for proposals (RFPs) for the better part of last year.  

Sustainability standards are on their way, however. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and Ad Net Zero created a number of working groups in October that are tasked with building the Global Media Sustainability Framework. The full set of guidelines are due to be published in time for the Cannes Lions Festival this June, though solutions will be distributed on a rolling basis between now and then as they are completed, according to Rob Rakowitz, initiative lead for GARM.

In addition to providing the standards for how carbon emissions will be measured, it will also provide guidance for increasing transparency and disclosure around companies’ carbon emissions data, Rakowitz added. 

The standards that are being produced would be completely voluntary for companies to implement and follow. Nonetheless it was clear that some sort of officially developed standard was necessary after some prodding into the current state of carbon emission measurement in the digital advertising industry, Rakowitz said. 

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