The internet, like the aviation sector, contributes for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, emphasizing the need for the media business to take action. As a result, every ad transmitted across the internet infrastructure to reach its target audience adds to these emissions.
It’s no surprise that several media businesses are developing their own carbon calculators. Publicis’ A.L.I.C.E tool and the IPA’s Carbon Calculator are two examples. As a result, carbon-neutral goods and solutions have become a commercial requirement in many sectors, including the media industry.
SeenThis’ white paper presented the internet as a data supply chain, primarily for adverts. Let’s take a closer look at two specific components of the supply chain for sending an ad from the agency to the consumer: data centers and content delivery networks. These are physical servers that store internet material before it is presented to a user. An ad may be stored at a data center in California before being sent through a content delivery network to someone in Europe, Asia, or Africa. These servers all need energy to function, and IT behemoths take pleasure in employing sustainable energy to power their data centers. It’s fantastic that they’re doing their part to hasten the transition to a more sustainable internet, but the truth is more complicated and requires a closer look.
Indeed, as The Wall Street Journal points out, there is a very limited quantity of renewable energy generated in the globe now, and it is not rising quickly enough. While overall energy demand is increasing (19% between 2009 and 2019), the shift to sustainable energy is not moving fast enough. To illustrate, in 2000, 86.1 percent of the world’s energy came from fossil fuels. In 2019, that figure was 84.3 percent, a little decline. While it is admirable that tech titans are pushing for a faster transition, we must also discover measures to limit the internet’s energy use. This manner, we can free up renewable energy, reducing the world’s dependency on carbon-heavy energy.
More precisely, the media sector must begin to consider what data should be carried over the internet and how it should be provided in the most effective manner feasible. Are we putting advertising on the internet that have a very low viewability? Is there a wiser method to show advertisements, such as utilizing adaptive streaming rather than non-adaptive downloading technologies?
To eliminate digital waste, media businesses and brands must adopt a holistic strategy to tracking and lowering CO2 emissions, employing green energy to power their campaigns, and using cutting-edge technologies to prevent wasteful data transmission.