Media Management

Why sustainable media matters, and how to get it right

“digital marketing now produces more carbon emissions than aviation, yet their environmental impact goes unnoticed.”

Whether it is building a brand or a call to action, advertising has always been about influence.

But in today’s climate-conscious world, influence comes with responsibility.

It is a proven fact that every campaign in every channel generates greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and this is particularly true in digital media.

According to a 2025 article in The Ecologist, “digital marketing now produces more carbon emissions than aviation, yet their environmental impact goes unnoticed.”

The piece notes that data centres powering websites, social media, and digital ads are responsible for 2.5 percent of global CO₂ emissions, slightly more than the 2.1 percent attributed to aviation.

Consequently, consumers, regulators, and investors are asking tough questions about the environmental impact of ad campaigns – not just the products being sold, but the media activity itself.

It is a simple fact that if you want to reduce your overall company GHG emissions, you must address those generated by your advertising. These would be included in your Scope 3 emissions.

Sustainable media advertising is no longer optional. It is becoming a mainstream expectation. For advertisers, this shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity.

This article explains why sustainable media matters, how it benefits your organisation, the barriers you may face, and how to overcome them.

It also outlines how Abintus supports advertisers through consultancy and training.

Why sustainable media is important

Sustainable media matters because the environmental impact of advertising is now widely recognised. Below are the key factors driving this change.

• Environmental impact: Every impression carries a carbon footprint. Programmatic delivery, streaming video, and high frequency campaigns consume energy across servers, exchanges, and user devices. Offline channels also generate emissions in different ways. This includes print, OOH, and television.
• Consumer expectations: Younger audiences expect brands to act responsibly in how they communicate. This applies to both products and media choices. These generations are also your employees. Responsible media practices support recruitment and retention.
• Regulatory pressure: Governments and industry bodies are increasing expectations around emissions disclosure and green claims. In the UK, the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting directive requires reporting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions for companies above a defined size. Scope 3 is not yet compulsory, but companies are strongly encouraged to report on it, and this includes advertising.
• Investor scrutiny: Investors view climate risk as business risk. Large institutions are urging companies to reduce their environmental footprint, which includes media investment.
• Industry leadership: Responsible advertising is an opportunity to lead. Brands that integrate sustainability into media strategy can build stronger trust and stronger differentiation.

Why sustainability is good for business

Sustainability contributes directly to commercial performance. The benefits below show why sustainable media is also smart media.

• Cost efficiency: Smarter targeting and cleaner supply paths reduce waste and improve cost efficiency.
• Brand equity: Environmental values strengthen loyalty. Stronger loyalty improves long term profitability.
• Investor confidence: Clear ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) metrics attract capital and support reputation.
• Innovation advantage: Sustainability encourages more thoughtful planning and more use of innovative formats and tools.
• Improved recruitment and retention: Teams want to work for companies that contribute positively to society.

Barriers to sustainable media

We know that making the change to becoming more sustainable isn’t going to be easy.

There will be barriers, some big, some small. But in our opinion, none that are insurmountable. Here are some examples…

• Perceived cost: Sustainable media is often seen as more expensive, particularly when investing in carbon audits, new technologies, or green-certified partners.
• Lack of expertise: Many marketing teams lack the technical knowledge to measure emissions, evaluate green partners, or redesign briefs with sustainability in mind.
• Fragmented supply chains: Programmatic advertising involves multiple intermediaries. Tracking emissions across the supply chain can be complex.
• Fear of greenwashing: Advertisers worry about making sustainability claims that could be challenged by regulators or watchdogs.

How to overcome these barriers

A practical roadmap makes change achievable. The actions below help advertisers embed sustainability into day-to-day planning and buying.

1. Start with measurement: Audit your media supply chain to understand the carbon footprint of your campaigns.
2. Redesign media briefs with sustainability in mind: Include clear sustainability criteria in your templates and ways of working.
3. Invest in training: Equip teams with practical knowledge to integrate sustainability into planning and buying.
4. Collaborate with the right partners: Work with agencies, platforms, and consultancies that bring specialist expertise.
5. Communicate responsibly: Use clear and transparent language in reporting and external claims.

What advertisers can achieve – ANA Study

In 2024 the ANA in the United States produced a report entitled “Sustainability in Media Planning”.

The study on which the report was based included major advertisers such as Coca Cola, GM, Kimberley-Clark, Mars and Mondelez.

Their findings were unequivocal – advertisers can and must do more to reduce the GHG emissions from their advertising.

The study found that, “Brands can reduce their carbon footprints by as much as a third by incorporating sustainability into their media planning”

The study also found that “2% of media sites accounted for 50% of total emissions, meaning brands can have an immediate impact by simply targeting away from high-emission media pages, such as so-called ‘Made For Advertising’ sites (MFAs).”

The report found that three actions were most effective at reducing emissions and improving campaign efficiency. In order of effectiveness, they were:

1. Adopting green media products or private marketplaces that automatically select for low-emissions inventory.
2. Updating inclusion lists to target only lower emission-emitting inventory, and thus eliminating bad actors such as MFAs.
3. Optimising exclusion lists to eliminate any bad actors.

These actions are not just do-able, they are simple, effective and imperative if you want to reduce your GHG emissions.

By taking those actions, brands in the study were able to reduce their carbon costs between 3% and 36%.

The most reductions were realised by companies that adopted green media products and/or updated inclusion lists.

Those that simply updated their exclusion lists only had carbon-cost reductions in the single digits.

Based on those results, the study had four steps media buyers could take to reduce their carbon costs while improving their advertising performance:

1. Adopt tools to measure emissions, which can help identify high-emission, low-performance inventory that can be cut from campaigns.
2. Choose an activity-based measurement model (rather than a spend-based measurement model) that points to campaign activities that are causing disproportionate emissions.
3. Adopt automated green solutions, such as green media products, inclusion lists and exclusion lists.
4. Eliminate MFA inventory, which tends to drive high emissions without improving business outcomes.

Although the study was conducted in the United States, the results and recommendations are universal.

The future of sustainable media

Sustainability will continue to grow in importance. The developments below show what the industry can expect.

• Green KPIs will sit alongside reach, cost, and performance indicators.
• Measurement will become more precise through improved technology.
• Platforms will increase access to cleaner and more efficient delivery paths.
• AI will play a central role, supporting optimisation, targeting, and creative adjustments to reduce emissions:
  • Real time carbon tracking
  • AI powered targeting that reduces waste
  • Automatic filtering of high emission sites including MFA domains
  • Creative compression that reduces file size with no visible loss
  • Dashboards that monitor emissions across entire campaigns
  • Advertisers who move early will gain a long term advantage.

Conclusion & next steps

Those who act now will secure long-term competitive advantage.

Sustainable media advertising is not just about doing the right thing for the planet.

It is about future-proofing your business, building trust with consumers, and unlocking efficiency.

Handled well, sustainable media advertising can transform your campaigns into engines of trust, efficiency, and innovation.

Handled poorly, it risks becoming a costly blind spot.

About the author

Steve Pollack, Senior Vice President for Sustainable Media at Abintus Consulting, has extensive experience across media and sustainability.  His work in this field began at Nestlé, where he contributed to early sustainability initiatives in advertising media.

He later completed the Sustainable Business programme at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, strengthening his expertise in environmental strategy. He now leads the Abintus Sustainable Media Practice.