Google now lets marketers measure emissions from online ads

Google has introduced a carbon footprint calculator that lets advertisers measure the emissions associated with running campaigns on the world’s largest advertising platform.

The resource, Carbon Footprint for Google Ads, is only available to a limited number of accounts but access will be broader in an unspecified future.

The tool will help ad agencies track emissions associated with online marketing and advertisements on a client-by-client basis “with greater precision,” Google said. It uses widely accepted accounting methodologies from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Global Media Sustainability Framework.

The tool also provides estimates for other online management tools for advertisers, including DV360, an application for running complex, multichannel campaigns.  

Push for detailed disclosure

Google offers similar calculators for other services. For example, corporations that use Google’s cloud computing resources to host their websites or handle their email and other workplace applications can calculate an emissions report that can be used to assess the environmental impact of their information technology operations.     

The new Google Ads carbon reports will be useful as mandatory regulations — including California’s climate disclosure laws and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — take effect.

These laws require detailed data for Scope 3 emissions, which include services and products companies procure to support their business. 

Digital marketing activities fit into that category and the new Google Ads tool will help advertisers and marketing teams prepare for closer scrutiny, said Jason Parkin, founder, president and chief operating officer at advertising agency Compose[d]. “It places more of a lens on the emissions impact of these technologies.”

Few corporations talk specifically about marketing in relation to climate issues. An exception is Seventh Generation, which is now evaluating its marketing and creative partners to better understand how much of their business is linked to fossil fuels companies. It asks marketing partners to sign the “Clean Creatives” pledge, which asks firms to refrain from supporting campaigns that undermine progress toward a clean energy transition.

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