By Emma Horton, Director of Impact at XR
Digital advertising’s carbon footprint is massive. The internet now accounts for over 3% of global carbon emissions compared to aviation’s 2.5%. The scale of this impact is undeniable when you consider that a single ad campaign generates around 70 tons of CO₂– the same amount produced by seven people over the course of an entire year.
As brands increasingly commit to sustainability goals, and consumers demand environmental responsibility, the advertising industry faces a critical inflection point. We must address the hidden environmental costs embedded throughout the creative lifecycle, from production and delivery to storage. It’s not just a good thing to do, it’s also good for business.
The hidden cost of creative inefficiency
The creative ecosystem is plagued by systemic inefficiencies that directly impact businesses and the environment. From siloed production workflows to duplicated assets stored across multiple systems, these inefficiencies create a multiplier effect for carbon emissions and waste.
Perhaps most concerning is our industry’s approach to digital asset storage. With virtually limitless cloud capacity, we’ve embraced an “archive everything” mentality without considering the environmental consequences. Data centers powering this storage consume immense amounts of electricity, much still derived from fossil fuels. Every duplicated asset, every unused creative variation, and every unnecessary file format consumes energy and generates emissions.
Research on asset utilization shows that nearly 50% of creative assets are never used. That’s not just wasted creative potential and spend – it’s a significant source of avoidable carbon emissions.
The power of creative technology
Creative technology companies are stepping up, addressing long-standing gaps between production, distribution, asset storage and sustainability. By centralizing creative operations and embedding sustainability intelligence into the workflow, these platforms give brands a unified system to measure and reduce their carbon footprint across the entire advertising lifecycle.
Via collaborations with organizations like Scope3 XR is contributing tocarbon emissions data becoming part of the creative workflow, integrating emissions data directly into production (Adgreen) and distribution platforms. This makes environmental impact both visible and actionable—without disrupting creative output or delivery timelines.
Advertisers can now access insights into the carbon footprint of their assets across screens, platforms, and geographies. With the ability to analyze emissions by campaign, production, format and market, brands gain the creative intelligence needed to make smarter, more sustainable and impactful business decisions – from asset creation through to final delivery.
Adopting a global ad creative ID
Complementing these sustainability partnerships, is adoption of a global creative ID, a standardized system for tracking and identifying creative assets across platforms. Widespread use of a global creative ID, supported by the IAB TechLab’s Ad Creative ID Framework (ACIF), can drive significant sustainability gains for the entire advertising ecosystem. Unique global IDs eliminate redundant assets through duplicate identification and active removal, streamline cross-channel workflows and enhance visibility into asset utilization. This enables brands to make more intentional production decisions – cutting down on both financial and carbon waste and improving operational efficiency.
The path forward
A more sustainable approach to creative operations signals to increasingly eco-conscious consumers that brands are taking meaningful action on climate issues.
Sustainability also fosters innovation. When teams are challenged to do more with less – fewer assets, more efficient workflows and smarter utilization – they often deliver more impactful creative solutions.
As the industry prioritizes sustainability, we must embed environmental considerations into every stage of the creative lifecycle. That includes centralizing assets, implementing clear storage policies, adopting unique creative IDs and aligning with industry standards like ACIF.
By making sustainability a core consideration in how we create, manage, and distribute advertising, brands can significantly reduce their environmental footprint, meet consumer demand for responsibility, and unlock long-term creative and business value. That’s good for the planet and great for growth.
