“At the beginning, we had this group of companies, and the extended industry hadn’t worked together in this way possibly ever before,” Falco said. “Those advertisers helped to focus the minds and bring that collaboration if it was needed.”

While ANZ has broad support from major advertisers and the top six ad agency holding companies, climate activists have targeted the group in the past for failing to demand that its agency supporters drop their fossil fuel clients.

Frank Maguire, vp of insights, strategy, and sustainability at Sharethrough, called the Global Media Sustainability Framework the “most significant set of sustainability guidelines the industry has seen to date.” He added that ANZ is “well-equipped to progress those standards and will continue to lead the charge in driving sustainable practices forward.”

Regulations are coming

While regulatory pressures were beginning to materialize at the beginning of the industry’s efforts toward standardizing media emissions measurement, those pressures are much more tangible now.

Large companies in the EU have to begin reporting carbon emissions, including those from media, as soon as next year, noted Eric Shih, chief operating officer at carbon intelligence platform Cedara. Shih has also been part of the working groups related to standardizing media measurement.

“[CSRD deadlines are] going to continue to apply pressure from that perspective, at a brand and company level,” Shih said.

GARM’s sustainability work becoming collateral damage of a politically charged brand safety fight is something that participants in the process desperately want to avoid.

“I’m saddened by this because we were making a ton of progress,” said Brian O’Kelley, co-founder and CEO of sustainable adtech company Scope3, who’s been part of the working groups related to the media sustainability framework.

“I would hate to have this be a knock-on effect of some other political bullshit,” he continued. “That, in the moment of greatest climate crisis in the history of the world, some flame war on Twitter ruined our chances to decarbonize the digital technology ecosystem. We can’t let that happen. We’re not going to let that happen.”