Scope3 campaign analysis shows sustainable media is effective media

It’s becoming common sense in our industry that sustainability and performance go hand-in-hand. Gone are the days when advertisers worry that buying low-emissions inventory or prioritizing sustainable supply paths means compromising on reach, efficiency, or outcomes.

New data now shows exactly how closely sustainability and performance are linked.

Scope3 recently conducted a meta-analysis spanning more than 500 million impressions from several campaigns. The goal was to evaluate the relationship between carbon emissions, spend efficiency, and ad performance.

The findings make one thing clear: sustainable media performs.

The problem we set out to solve

Every year, according to the ANA, billions of dollars in digital advertising are lost to waste, never reaching real people or quality inventory. Fraud, MFA, excessive intermediaries, and other inefficiencies plague the ecosystem. These issues hurt performance while generating avoidable carbon emissions.

Scope3 was founded to fix this. Our mission has always been to make the media supply chain more efficient, effective, and sustainable – reducing environmental impact and enhancing media performance.

As we’ve partnered with leading advertisers, publishers, and tech platforms to measure and reduce emissions, we’ve seen a deeper pattern emerge: carbon reduction and performance are closely intertwined. The same steps that reduce emissions, like filtering out low-quality supply paths or MFA, also improve media effectiveness.

What we found

Our meta-analysis focused on campaigns run in 2024 across verticals including CPG, Health & Pharma, Insurance, Auto, and Tech. These campaigns used Scope3's carbon emissions data, either for pre-bid activation or via Green Media Products (GMPs), to avoid climate-risk inventory and reduce campaign emissions.

For the analysis, we evaluated three core metrics:

• gCO₂PM (grams of CO₂ per 1,000 impressions)
• Spend efficiency (eCPM, CPC, CPA)
• Ad performance (CTR)

The results were overwhelmingly positive. As emissions decreased, we saw significant improvements in CTRs. With reductions in gCO₂PM, we also saw stable-to-improved spend efficiency, indicating there is no performance penalty for sustainable buying (in fact, the inverse is true).

These results demonstrate that, by taking steps to reduce the carbon emissions associated with your media supply chain and campaigns, you can get more from your media investment and drive positive environmental and business outcomes.

Proof in practice

In addition to our recent meta-analysis, many of our clients and partners have achieved similar outcomes using Scope3's activation and measurement solutions. For example:

Amnet France + The Trade Desk: Amnet used Climate Shield pre-bid segments to filter out high-carbon inventory. They saw:

• 25% reduction in CO₂ per impression
• 27% reduction in eCPM
• 29% reduction in CPCV

Deakin University + Index Exchange: A/B testing with GMPs helped Deakin University quantify the impact of sustainable media on a programmatic campaign. Results included:

• 32% lower cost per page view
• 20% increase in CTR
• 32% reduction in gCO₂PM

Boa + Nature's Path: Using Scope3 Media Reporting, boa was able to buy more impactful placements without growing emissions, meeting its goal of balancing performance with efficiency. Results included:

• 62% lower carbon intensity per result
• 47% increase in clicks (YoY)
• 44% increase in landing page views (YoY)

As shown, many of our partners are seeing better results when using media sustainability signals to inform their buys and optimization strategies.

The lesson is simple: by optimizing supply chains for quality and emissions reduction, you can remove waste and boost performance to make your media spend go farther.

Waste is costly. Sustainable media buying isn’t.

Sustainable media isn’t just better for the planet. It drives better performance.

Reducing waste in media is one of the most powerful levers for improving outcomes. That’s why Scope3 has long invested in solutions that help advertisers buy cleaner, higher-quality media as part of their investment strategies.

Solutions like Climate Shield, Scope3 Essentials, and Green Media Products (GMPs) offered via our SSP and publisher partners have enabled advertisers to consistently reduce emissions and boost effectiveness – without compromising on scale or reach. These tools have become the foundation for smarter, cleaner media buying.

Now, we’re taking this foundation further with agentic AI.

Brand Standards introduces a new layer of intelligence that helps brands buy more responsible, aligned media. Part of the Scope3 Agentic Media Platform, Brand Standards offers a more nuanced, AI-driven approach to brand safety, suitability, and performance, bringing agentic AI to every impression decision.

Together, these solutions are helping advertisers eliminate waste, elevate campaign results, and build media strategies for modern marketing.

Ready to get on board? Contact us today.