BACKGROUND
In today's world, the importance of environmental sustainability has never been more important. As individuals, brands and the advertising industry supply chain becomes increasingly aware of the impact they have on the planet, the push towards more sustainable practices has become more urgent. At Cavai, we are committed to playing our part in this effort. We have made a pledge to reach Net Zero – meaning cutting greenhouse gas emissions across GHG Protocol Scopes 1-3 to zero by 2040. Scope 1 is direct emissions, scope 2 is indirect (for example electricity powering our offices) and scope 3 is indirect - up and downstream value chain for example the servers powering our platform or the DSPs running our tags. We are already well on our way toward achieving this goal.
In this blog post, we will take a closer look at our internal environmental and social governance (ESG) approach and the steps we are taking to reduce our carbon footprint and build a more sustainable future in ad tech.
OUR GOALS
Cavai’s approach to sustainability goals
As part of our journey towards sustainability, we have set ourselves the ambitious goal of reaching Net Zero across GHG Protocol Scopes 1–3 by 2040.
To achieve this goal, we have already baselined our Scope 1 & 2 and will achieve our Carbon Neutral status on these shortly. We have also begun to baseline Scope 3, and plan to achieve Carbon Neutral on that this year too. We work with Zerobees, for our GHG Scope audits.
To ensure that we take an active approach to reduction strategies we are ISO 14001 accredited and audited across our internal Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS feeds into the way we approach our internal operations, and we have set some ambitious goals in this regard.
One of our major goals is to work with operational providers to use 100% green energy by 2025. We have also taken steps to optimize our server usage to ensure high-quality and speedy delivery of our video ads while keeping our energy consumption as efficient as possible.
We are proud of the steps we have taken so far toward a more sustainable future, and we are committed to continuing to make progress toward our Net Zero goal. we believe that it is our responsibility to help build a better future for all, and we are excited to be taking steps in that direction.
If you want to learn more about our ESG approach and our journey towards Net Zero, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and keep an eye out for updates!
HOW TO GET THERE
Cavai CarbonTag
We are committed to playing our part in the measurement of emissions for our industry. The CarbonTag was developed through an 18-month-long partnership with the Sustainability in Advertising Lab at UC3M Universidad Carlos III de Madrid led by renowned Professor Rubén Cuevas Rumín.
Our CarbonTag research project has twice been published in the Wall Street Journal (article 1 & article 2) and in The New Scientist. It also won the Sustainable Innovation category at the ANFO Effekt awards, hosted by the Norwegian WFA.
The resulting Research Paper led to a machine model built to measure energy consumption at a creative render level. The application of the model is a javascript code implemented into an ad tag, measuring on-device creative rendering at an impression level, based on weight, device & operating systems.
Cavai Creatives
In addition to this our Cavai Cloud platform provides the opportunity to consolidate multiple product communications into one creative - reducing the need for multiple ads and formats and therefore respective emissions. In this campaign, we produced 2 formats yet offered 9 products. This would have been 18 formats based on non-Cavai creatives, providing a more cost and carbon-efficient approach.
SUMMARY
In summary, we believe that it is our responsibility to take a proactive approach toward sustainability in advertising technology. That’s why we have to take an active approach to reduction strategies and work towards 100% green energy usage by 2025. We are excited about the progress we have made so far and remain committed to building better ways of working for a green future.
by Karol Smith 
