Summary
This section provides an overview of the methodology that will be applied to the GHG assessment. It defines why the specific data is relevant, how it will be measured, and what categories or frameworks are used.
Why consider emissions from digital ads?
Digital ads are emissions come from all the data transfer, network and servers involved in the process, as well as end-user device reading the ad. This is a post with a high variability depending on the type of ad used by your client, making a monetary analysis very uncertain.
General methodology
General information
This study covers all the impacts coming from the usage servers, from electricity consumption and the amortization of network and end-devices. To be processed by Greenly, the data must be provided in French or English.
The study is following the referential built by GARM and Ad net-zero, giving guidance on how to measure these emissions. This is the most widely used framework on the subject.Granularity: The data is collected at the campaign level Measurement: Emissions from this study are divided in 3 categories:
Usage and amortization of networks: All the electricity linked to the data transfer generated by the ads campaigns, and amortization of the related network infrastructure.
Using the type of ad, number of views, and other information if available (video quality, average watch time, weight of assets), we’re able to estimate the amount of GB transferred, and convert it in kWh. Then, we use country specific EF to convert kWh in kgCO2e, and a generic EF to convert the GB in kgCO2e for the amortization part.Usage and amortization of end-user terminals: All the electricity and amortization impact of terminals where the ads are displayed.
This part is only calculated for videos and images, for which we estimate the watch time (in second). With a hypothesis on the average power consumption per type of terminal, we deduce the electricity consumed, and convert this consumption in kgCO2e. Having the duration of usage, we can also calculate the impact share of amortization.Servers: This impact represents the footprint of servers used to run the ad campaigns, but also to select which ad is displayed on which page (programmatic display). Emission factors are directly deduced from SRI database analysis.Important Note: Refer to the Data Collection Guide for more details on specific data formats and templates.
Processing between methodologies
General information
The data center module supports both GHG Protocol and BEGES v5 methodologies. The processing techniques for activity data are consistent across both standards.
Types of emission factors
General information
The data center analysis uses a variety of emission factor databases to calculate the carbon footprint of different components:
IEA (International Energy Agency): Provides country-specific electricity emission factors, updated annually. These factors capture the carbon intensity of electricity generation in different regions.
SRI (syndicat des régies d’internet): This is a french group of ad supplier that made available a list of emission factors giving the average impact of servers and terminals per impression
ADEMExARCEP: A study around the datacenters impact, along with Free (french telecom company) carbon assessment is used as a base to calculate the impact of network per GB transfered, depending on the type of network (mobile/fixed).
Additional information
General information
The following resources provide additional context for understanding data center emissions calculations:
Data Collection Guide - Detailed instructions on how to gather and format the required data for data center analysis
Processing Guide - Step-by-step explanation of how data is processed in the different modules