Back to Services

Audit-Ready Carbon Reporting for Advertising and Marketing Agencies

Track office energy, business travel, digital ad server emissions, and campaign production carbon per employee or per campaign.

Book Demo Start Free Trial

The Industry Hotspot: Office Energy and Business Travel

50-70% from business travel

Advertising agencies have carbon profiles similar to professional services firms, with 50-70% of emissions from business travel (Scope 3 Category 6) for client pitches, production shoots, and industry events. A 500-employee agency generates 2,500-4,000 tCO2/year from air travel (5-8 tCO2/employee). Office energy (Scope 2) accounts for 20-30% (2-3 tCO2/employee from leased urban office space). Digital advertising platforms add data center emissions for ad servers and programmatic bidding (Scope 3 Category 1). Traditional campaign production (photo shoots, video production, print) adds embodied carbon from materials and location travel (10-15% of footprint). NetNada maps expense-to-emissions for travel, tracks office energy, and calculates digital ad serving emissions.

SASB Industry Definition

The Advertising & Marketing industry consists of entities that create and execute marketing campaigns including advertising agencies (creative services, media buying), market research firms, brand consulting, public relations agencies, and digital marketing platforms. Services span traditional media (TV, print, outdoor) and digital channels (programmatic advertising, social media, search). Revenue comes from agency fees, media commissions, and retainer contracts. Digital transformation has shifted emissions from print production to ad server infrastructure and programmatic bidding platforms.

View SASB Standard →

Industry-Specific Carbon Accounting

No generic solutions. Metrics, data sources, and reporting aligned to Advertising & Marketing operations.

Expense-to-Emissions Travel Tracking

Extract from expense system: Flight bookings (route, class), Hotel nights, Car rentals. Calculate: Flight emissions (ICAO distance × class multiplier), Hotel 20-40 kgCO2/night. Aggregate to tCO2/employee. Benchmark: Creative agencies 6-10 tCO2/employee (high travel for shoots, pitches), Media buying agencies 3-5 tCO2/employee.

Travel emissions per employee

Office Energy per Employee

Import utility bills for leased offices. Allocate by employee count. Calculate: kWh/employee/year. Benchmark: Advertising agencies 2,000-3,500 kWh/employee (creative studios, meeting spaces, rendering workstations consume more than typical office). Apply grid emission factor for Scope 2 or Scope 3 Category 8 (leased assets).

kWh per employee

Digital Ad Serving Emissions

Ad tech platforms: Track data center kWh for ad servers and RTB auctions. Calculate energy per billion ad impressions. Industry estimate: 1-5 kWh per 1,000 impressions (varies by ad format - video higher than display). Example: Serve 100 billion impressions/year × 0.003 kWh/1,000 = 300,000 kWh × 0.6 tCO2/MWh = 180 tCO2. Report per impression or per $M ad spend.

kWh per billion impressions

Production Shoot Carbon Footprint

Video/photo production emissions: Crew travel (flights, vans to location), Diesel generators for lighting (10-50 kW × 12 hr), Set construction materials, Catering (food waste, packaging). Typical commercial shoot: 50-200 tCO2 (2-day production, 30-person crew, international location). Green production: Local crews (reduce travel 40%), Grid power vs generators (60% reduction), Virtual production (LED walls).

tCO2 per production

Print Campaign Material Embodied Carbon

Print advertising (magazines, billboards, direct mail): Paper production, Printing (energy + ink), Distribution. 1 tonne glossy magazine paper = 0.9 tCO2 embodied + printing 0.2 tCO2 = 1.1 tCO2/tonne. Digital shift eliminates print material carbon but adds ad server energy (net 80-90% reduction per impression equivalent).

Print material embodied carbon

Client Campaign Carbon Reporting

Agencies can offer carbon reporting as service: Calculate campaign footprint (production + media distribution), Provide carbon-per-impression metrics for digital vs TV vs print, Recommend low-carbon media mix. Example: TV commercial 100 tCO2 production + 500 tCO2 broadcast energy = 600 tCO2. Digital campaign 50 tCO2 production + 20 tCO2 ad serving = 70 tCO2 (88% lower).

Campaign carbon tracked

Product Features for Advertising & Marketing

Use Carbon Data Uploader to import expense data for business travel and production budgets for automated agency carbon calculations. Learn more →

The Activity Calculator applies emission factors for air travel, diesel generators, and digital ad serving—calculating agency and campaign carbon footprints. Learn more →

Related Solutions

See our Carbon Accounting solution for end-to-end advertising agency emissions tracking from office and travel through campaign production.

View solution

Advertising & Marketing Case Studies

How entities in this industry use NetNada to solve carbon accounting challenges.

Global Creative Agency (1,200 employees, 15 offices, 200 campaigns/year)

Challenge

Client sustainability RFPs increasingly required agency carbon footprint disclosure and campaign-level emissions reporting. Manual tracking from travel expenses and production invoices took 150 hours/year. Needed per-employee and per-campaign carbon metrics.

Solution

Deployed NetNada with expense integration. Tracked: Business travel 6,500 tCO2 (5.4 tCO2/employee), Office energy 3,600 tCO2 (3.0 tCO2/employee). Integrated production budgets to estimate campaign emissions: Average video production 120 tCO2, photo shoot 40 tCO2, digital-only campaign 5 tCO2.

Result

Reduced RFP response time from 150 hours to 20 hours annually. Implemented green production guidelines: Virtual production for 15 campaigns (saved 80 tCO2/campaign), Local crews vs international travel (40% travel reduction). Per-employee carbon: 8.4 → 6.2 tCO2/employee over 2 years (26% reduction). Won 4 major client accounts citing sustainability leadership.

Programmatic Ad Tech Platform (serving 200B impressions/year)

Challenge

Investor ESG questionnaire required data center energy disclosure. Real-time bidding auctions energy-intensive (compute per impression). Needed carbon per impression metric for client sustainability reporting.

Solution

Used NetNada to track data center electricity from AWS. RTB platform: 500 GWh/year estimated (AWS customer carbon tool). Calculated: 500 GWh ÷ 200B impressions = 2.5 kWh per 1,000 impressions × 0.4 tCO2/MWh (AWS grid mix) = 0.001 kgCO2 per 1,000 impressions. Enabled carbon API for advertisers to retrieve impression carbon.

Result

Published carbon per impression metric: 1 gCO2 per 1,000 impressions (industry-leading efficiency). Launched 'carbon-optimized bidding' feature: Bid higher on low-carbon publisher inventory (solar-powered data centers) vs high-carbon. 12% of advertisers opted in, differentiated platform in sustainability-conscious advertiser segment.

SASB Disclosure Topics for Advertising & Marketing

Material sustainability topics beyond emissions that investors and stakeholders expect disclosed per SASB standards.

Office Energy Management

environment

Track electricity consumption for agency offices (often leased creative spaces). Report kWh per employee and % from renewable energy.

Business Travel Emissions

environment

Monitor air travel for client meetings, production shoots, conferences. Track hotel nights and ground transportation. Report tCO2e per employee from Scope 3 Category 6.

Digital Ad Server Energy

environment

For ad tech platforms: Track data center energy for ad serving, programmatic bidding, and real-time bidding (RTB) auctions. Report energy per billion ad impressions served.

Campaign Production Emissions

environment

Track emissions from photo/video shoots: Location travel, diesel generators for lighting, set materials, catering. Report tCO2 per campaign or per production day.

Data Privacy and Advertising Ethics

governance

Disclose data privacy policies for targeted advertising, compliance with GDPR/CCPA, and restrictions on sensitive category targeting (children, health).

Diversity in Creative Work

social

Report diversity of creative teams, on-screen talent in campaigns, and supplier diversity for production vendors.

NetNada tracks all SASB material topics, not just emissions. Our platform supports disclosure across environmental, social, governance, and business model topics relevant to your industry.

Advertising & Marketing FAQs

Common questions about carbon accounting for this industry

How do advertising agencies calculate their carbon footprint?
Agency carbon = Office energy (Scope 2) + Business travel (Scope 3 Category 6) + Production emissions (Scope 3 Category 1). (1) Office: kWh/employee × Grid factor. Typical: 2,000-3,500 kWh/employee for creative studios. (2) Travel: Flights + hotels + car rentals from expense system. Typical: 5-8 tCO2/employee for creative agencies (frequent shoots, pitches). (3) Production: Campaign shoot travel, generators, materials. Allocate across campaigns produced. Sum to get total agency footprint, report per employee or per $ revenue.
Should digital ad platforms report emissions from ad serving?
Yes, as Scope 3 Category 1 (Purchased Goods/Services if using cloud) or Scope 2 (if own data centers). Ad serving energy = Data center kWh for ad auctions, serving, and tracking. Real-time bidding (RTB) computationally intensive (ms-latency auctions for each impression). Estimate: 1-5 kWh per 1,000 impressions depending on format (video higher than display). Report: Energy per billion impressions or per $M ad spend. Differentiation opportunity: Low-carbon ad serving (efficient algorithms, renewable-powered data centers).
What's the carbon difference between digital and TV advertising campaigns?
TV campaign = Production (commercial shoot 100-300 tCO2) + Broadcast energy (transmitters, satellite uplinks per airings). Digital campaign = Production (50-150 tCO2, less complex shoots) + Ad serving energy (20-100 tCO2 for billions of impressions) + Customer device energy (optional Scope 3 Category 11). Lifecycle: TV commercial 400-600 tCO2 total, Digital campaign 70-250 tCO2 (40-80% lower). Digital advantage: Targeted reach (less waste), no broadcast infrastructure. Report per $ media spend or per 1,000 impressions for comparison.
How do production shoots for commercials generate emissions?
Commercial shoot emissions: (1) Crew travel - Director, camera operators, talent flying to location (international shoot: 20-50 tCO2). (2) Diesel generators - Location filming without grid (10-50 kW × 12 hr/day × 3 days = 1,000-5,000 kWh × 0.7 kgCO2/kWh diesel = 700-3,500 kgCO2). (3) Set construction - Materials for sets (lumber, paint, props). (4) Catering and waste. Typical 2-day shoot: 50-200 tCO2. Green production: Local crews, grid power hookups, virtual sets, reusable materials. Can reduce by 40-60%.
Can ad agencies offer carbon-neutral campaigns as a service?
Yes, as value-added service for sustainability-focused brands. Calculate campaign lifecycle carbon: Production + Media distribution. Offer offsets or carbon-reduction strategies. Example: Client requests carbon-neutral product launch campaign. Agency calculates: 80 tCO2 production + 40 tCO2 digital ad serving = 120 tCO2 total. Options: (1) Purchase carbon offsets 120 tCO2 (pass cost to client), (2) Reduce: Virtual production (-30 tCO2), digital-only (no TV, -200 tCO2), renewable-powered ad servers (-10 tCO2). Market differentiation: 'Carbon-conscious campaigns' attract ESG brands.

Track Advertising Agency and Campaign Carbon Emissions

See how agencies measure office, travel, and production carbon, and offer campaign-level emissions reporting as a client service—automated.

Book a Demo Start Free Trial