Digital advertising is never carbon neutral—every ad adds up. Our new report reveals how CPG brands can cut costs and carbon emissions simultaneously while boosting campaign performance in 2025.
As 2024 comes to a close, marketers are planning for the year ahead while confronting an uncomfortable truth. Digital advertising, though bit and bytes and seemingly ethereal, is never carbon neutral. Every ad, adds up.
That’s why we’re excited to share our latest report: The 2025 CPG Advertiser’s Guide to Sustainable Media Buying. This comprehensive report reveals sobering realities and actionable solutions for brands ready to embrace sustainable media practices.
Our research uncovered striking numbers. Currently, 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions (CHG) come from the internet alone, and with the rapid adoption of AI and the energy new tools and platforms require, internet power consumption will keep increasing. While we often think of digital activities as happening in some abstract “cloud,” the reality is that all impressions are IRL (in real life).
Every click, every view, every automated bid requires physical servers and real energy. A single display campaign generating one million impressions has a carbon footprint equivalent to driving a car for an entire year.
However, the same practices that reduce environmental impact can also drive better business results. Why invest in decarbonized media buying? Simple. More sustainable advertising is more effective advertising – not just for the planet, but also for your bottom line.
The numbers tell the tale at a global scale. In 2023, global digital advertising expenditure reached $525 billion, with CPG brands alone spending nearly $49 billion. Yet up to 40% of display advertising is wasted, while 8.5% of all paid traffic across major platforms is invalid. This isn’t just a financial issue – every wasted impression generates unnecessary carbon emissions.
Consider these statistics from our report:
The good news? You can start reducing both financial and environmental waste immediately. Our report outlines specific, actionable steps that brands can take today, starting with something as simple as booking a discovery call with boa to assess your current carbon footprint and identify opportunities for improvement.
We’ve seen remarkable results when brands take this first step. One sustainable CPG brand we worked with achieved:
These improvements came from implementing straightforward but powerful changes: more precise targeting, elimination of invalid traffic, measurement of campaign emissions and optimization of campaign delivery systems.
The digital advertising landscape is evolving rapidly. New tools and technologies are emerging that make sustainable advertising not just possible but preferable. We’re seeing:
Our research shows that brands adopting sustainable practices now will have a significant competitive advantage as these trends accelerate.
The message is clear. In a world where digital advertising is never carbon neutral and every ad adds up, sustainability is both an environmental imperative and business necessity. Right now, brands have a choice for 2025 planning and execution. The worst choice is continuing with business as usual, contributing to both financial and environmental waste. The best possible decision is to take immediate action and embrace sustainable media buying practices.
The first step is simple — get to know boa and book a discovery call. And download our new report today, The 2025 CPG Advertiser’s Guide to Sustainable Media Buying.
The tools, technologies and strategies exist. The only question is, in 2025 and beyond, will your brand be a leader or a follower in this transformation?
Let’s talk and put a plan in action to cut costs, cut carbon and boost ad campaign performance. Together, we can build a future where marketing success and sustainability go hand in hand.