What Is Green Media? Understanding the Carbon Cost of Every Impression
Digital advertising may seem like a clean industry—no packaging, no shipping, no paper waste. But behind every impression lies a hidden cost: carbon emissions. Every server ping, ad auction, and data transfer uses energy, and across billions of impressions, it adds up fast.
As conversations around sustainability shift from niche to necessary, advertisers are starting to ask harder questions. How much carbon does my media strategy produce? What steps can I take to reduce it? And how do I meet growing expectations from consumers, investors, and regulators?
That’s where green media comes in.
Rethinking the Digital Footprint
Though it operates behind screens, digital advertising has a very real environmental impact. According to Scope3, serving just 1 million ad impressions can produce the same carbon emissions as a round-trip flight from Boston to London. That’s not just theoretical—it’s the energy used by servers, exchanges, and data centers that support each campaign.
And while the digital supply chain enables powerful audience targeting and real-time optimization, it also introduces complexity. Each hop between DSPs, SSPs, exchanges, and more requires energy. These hops are crucial to the functioning of programmatic media, but understanding their environmental impact is essential for developing a more sustainable system.
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So, What Is Green Media?
Green media refers to the practice of minimizing the environmental impact of digital advertising. It means reducing carbon emissions across the full media supply chain—from creative production to campaign delivery and measurement.
A green media strategy might include:
- Working with low-carbon media platforms and vendors
- Optimizing file sizes and ad formats to require less data transfer
- Choosing supply paths with fewer intermediaries
- Tracking campaign emissions and investing in high-quality offsets
- Prioritizing webpages with fewer ad slots
This approach doesn’t disrupt performance—it enhances it. By making more efficient choices, brands can improve ROI while also contributing to broader sustainability goals.
Why Green Media Matters Now
Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have. According to a 2024 Deloitte study, 73% of consumers say they’re actively changing their buying habits to reduce their environmental impact, and more than half say a brand’s sustainability practices influence their purchasing decisions.
Investors and regulators are paying closer attention, too, putting media-related emissions under the microscope. That makes sustainability not just a brand value, but a strategic business driver.
Digilant’s CEO, Andrea Monge, has long been a champion for environmental responsibility in business. She brings both industry insight and personal commitment to the sustainability conversation. For her, green media isn’t just a marketing trend—it’s a business imperative:
“The intersection of media innovation and environmental responsibility is critical. Our industry’s growth must be sustainable, acknowledging that the planetary boundaries simply don’t scale with our impressions. This means acutely addressing AI’s growing carbon footprint, reducing waste throughout the entire value chain, and rigorously upholding quality. Brands that champion ‘green media’ now will define advertising’s future, delivering not just a reduced environmental impact, but also optimized performance and robust brand safety.”
– Andrea Monge, CEO Digilant
A New KPI: Emissions
One of the most exciting shifts in sustainable advertising is the ability to measure and act on your carbon impact. Tools like Scope3 and Sharethrough’s GreenPMPs™ make it possible to estimate—and even offset—the emissions tied to your campaigns.
To put it in perspective: a campaign generating 2.8 million grams of CO₂ could have the same footprint as charging 344,000 smartphones or powering 136 homes for a full year. With this kind of transparency, advertisers can start optimizing not just for performance, but for planetary impact.