At AB, we focus on driving high-performing digital marketing campaigns that don’t just achieve business goals but also contribute to a greener planet.
As part of that commitment, we are proud to announce the launch of our new Carbon Calculator, a tool designed to help businesses measure and reduce the environmental impact of their digital marketing efforts.
The Carbon Calculator allows us and our clients to track, report and reduce the carbon footprint of their ad campaigns. Whether you’re managing a global campaign or localised digital ads, this tool gives you the insights you need to make your marketing strategy more eco-friendly, all while maintaining top-tier performance.
Calculate your carbon emissions
Why does tracking carbon matter?
Every impression from your digital campaign has an impact. And, when you think about how many campaigns are running at any one time, that impact really starts to add up. Factor in the energy required to load landing pages, videos and any other type of media, as a planet we’re left with a substantial carbon footprint.
Customers are also becoming more aware of businesses with high carbon emissions. 91% of consumers want brands to demonstrate they are making positive choices about the planet and environment more explicitly in everything they do, according to The Rise of Sustainable Media, a 2025 study by Microsoft.
Key features of the Carbon Calculator
The Carbon Calculator brings together technology and a deep understanding of digital ad platforms to offer the following features:
1. Carbon calculation engine
The heart of the tool, the carbon calculation engine, is built to compute the carbon emissions associated with your ad campaigns. With the flexibility to input key data points like impressions, format (e.g. video, display, audio), platform, geography, and device type, it produces a detailed carbon footprint.
How it works:
The formula used calculates the CO₂ emissions per million impressions, factoring in specific modifiers relevant to each input. Once the calculation is done, clients receive not only the carbon footprint in kilograms of CO₂ but also relatable equivalents to make the impact tangible, such as the number of trees required to absorb the carbon or the equivalent number of flights.
2. Grading system
To help businesses understand how sustainable their campaigns are, the Carbon Calculator includes a unique grading system. The campaign sustainability is rated on a scale from A–E (or similar), with the grade reflecting factors such as the choice of format, geographic spread, device type, and platform used. Think of it just like an energy efficiency rating when buying a home.
This grade is visible in client reports and tracked over time, providing actionable insights into areas for improvement.
3. Benchmarking and trend tracking
The tool allows you can track the evolution of your campaign’s grade and carbon footprint over time. This feature allows AB clients to benchmark their sustainability progress against anonymised averages from across our client portfolio. Every quarter, users will receive a trend report showing their total savings and sustainability gains, empowering them to make informed decisions as they optimise future campaigns.
A tool built for the future
We understand that businesses (including us!) want to do more than just meet their goals – they want to make a positive impact on the world around them. Our Carbon Calculator helps brands take meaningful steps toward sustainability, all while ensuring that their advertising remains as effective as ever.
Henry Sanford, AB’s Digital Partner, shared his excitement about the launch of the tool:
We’ve always believed that digital ad campaigns can be both high-performing and sustainable. The Carbon Calculator is the embodiment of that vision. It empowers our clients to make smarter, greener choices while optimising their campaigns. By integrating sustainability into the digital marketing process, we’re not just reducing carbon footprints, we’re also helping brands align their values with their actions.
Make your campaigns greener
The Carbon Calculator isn’t just for the use of AB and our clients. A lite public version is also now available on our website, providing a valuable resource for anyone looking to understand the environmental impact of their digital ad campaigns. This public version can be used by anyone for marketing purposes, allowing businesses to see where they stand and start thinking about how to reduce their impact.
We’re excited to see how this tool will inspire change across the digital advertising industry and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Stay tuned for more updates and feel free to explore the Carbon Calculator to get started!