The digital advertising industry just received some remarkably encouraging news: campaigns may be far more environmentally friendly than previously believed. A comprehensive case study released by Cedara and European recommerce leader momox shows that traditional carbon measurement methods have been dramatically overstating emissions, opening doors to more accurate sustainability practices.

The research examined three digital marketing campaigns across Google Performance Max, Google Search, and Programmatic Display channels, comparing old spend-based estimates against modern activity-based measurements. The results were striking and uplifting. While outdated spend-based calculations suggested the campaigns produced 2.62 tonnes of carbon emissions, the more precise activity-based methodology aligned with the Global Media Sustainability Framework revealed actual emissions of just 0.47 tonnes—an encouraging difference of 80% less than originally estimated.

This breakthrough matters because it demonstrates that the advertising industry's environmental impact has been significantly misunderstood. More importantly, it provides marketing teams with practical tools to make genuine progress on sustainability goals while maintaining campaign effectiveness.

Eric Shih, Chief Operating Officer at Cedara, emphasizes the empowering nature of these findings. The new activity-based measurement approach doesn't just provide more accurate numbers—it gives brands actionable insights to reduce their environmental impact through specific optimizations like creative file size adjustments, video length refinements, and supply-path efficiency improvements.

For sustainability-focused companies like momox, Europe's leading recommerce platform that has facilitated transactions for over 400 million pre-owned items since 2004, this precision measurement represents a game-changer. Lenia Karallus, Chief Commercial Officer Fashion at momox, highlights how the industry-standard approach enables credible measurement and informed decision-making that aligns environmental responsibility with business performance.

The Global Media Sustainability Framework represents a collaborative triumph for the advertising industry, developed through partnerships among over 120 companies across more than 40 markets. This collective effort demonstrates the industry's serious commitment to moving beyond observation toward systematic carbon reduction and transparent reporting.

The adoption momentum is encouraging. Major platforms including TikTok have partnered with measurement providers to enable transparent emissions tracking, while Scope3 aligned its emissions model with the latest framework standards. This widespread collaboration signals a genuine industry-wide shift toward environmental accountability.

What makes this development particularly exciting is how it transforms sustainability from a constraint into an opportunity. Rather than simply reducing advertising budgets to lower emissions—an impractical solution for performance-driven businesses—marketing teams can now identify specific optimization opportunities that benefit both environmental and business objectives.

The new measurement approach tracks real operational activity throughout the digital advertising lifecycle, including ad serving, network delivery, data center operations, and user-device rendering. This granular visibility enables continuous improvement and meaningful benchmarking against industry standards, helping marketing teams understand not just their total emissions but how they compare to best practices.

As digital advertising represents approximately 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions from digital services, these advances in measurement and optimization represent meaningful progress toward a more sustainable digital economy. The path forward combines environmental responsibility with business effectiveness—proving that going green and performing well aren't opposing goals but complementary opportunities.