Sustainability White Papers & Research

The Global Media Sustainability Framework is a cross-industry collaboration between WFA’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the Ad Net Zero community. It allows advertisers, media owners and agencies to measure across six major media types.

This report segments American consumers into five groups based on sustainability behaviours, revealing their eco-friendly habits and brand expectations for a greener future.

Top ad industry bodies, including Ad Net Zero, 4A’s, ANA, and more, unite to endorse new best practices for hard drive reuse, aiming to cut carbon emissions and reduce resource waste in production.

The guide identifies 10 areas across planning, buying and activation where advertisers can take action right now to reduce the direct carbon emissions of their advertising activity.

The Sustainable Marketing 2030 initiative is a collaboration between WFA and Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice which seeks to explore how the marketing function can be part of the solution to a sustainable future.

Sharethrough and AdExchanger partnered to survey leaders from brands, agencies, and ad tech companies on how sustainability pressures and initiatives are already reshaping their business practices.

How sustainability can drive short-term sales and long-term brand equity and how focusing on sustainability can support future business success.This white paper summarizes the results from “Purposeful Purchase Journeys” (PPJ), conducted across five different industries in the UK through a partnership between IPG Mediabrands’ Sustainability Practice, MAGNA UK, Kantar & Google.

• December 2023
• Q2 2023

These reports from Scope3 showcase updated emissions data and estimated digital advertising emissions, with projections on the industry’s decarbonization initiatives.

More research from Scope3 here.

This analysis explores the nature of problematic placements, how they compare to other forms of ad waste and why leveraging placement-level data is a must for marketers.

More research from Scope3 here.

In January 2023, IAB Tech Lab announced a new workstream committed to working with the industry to produce guidance, tools, and initiatives that can be used to reduce the carbon impact of the programmatic supply chain.

This annual report from Ad Net Zero offers an overview of the progress made on measuring carbon emissions and decarbonizing the advertising industry.

In 2023, the Acceptable Ads Committee conducted a qualitative and quantitative study to better understand the perspectives of online users regarding sustainability.

This study addressed key questions, including user awareness of carbon emissions associated with their internet usage, their views on “sustainable advertising” and strategies to reduce carbon footprint.

This white paper from New World Zero is a collaboration of more than 60 organizations and contributors, laying the foundation for a transformed future through effective climate change communications and creativity.

This Deep Dive between ExchangeWire and Sharethrough breaks down the carbon emissions of online advertising and review what solutions could lead to reducing them.

This whitepaper from The Institute for Advertising Ethics focuses on what actions are needed from advertisers and agencies to avoid greenwashing and better the integrity of environmentally themed advertising.

This course offered by Project Drawdown is an educational effort through a solutions lens that offers climate action based on science research and analysis, and discussions with global experts to make climate solutions more attainable.