Insider Brief
- Scope3, a sustainability platform focused on decarbonizing media and advertising, raised $25 million in funding led by GV to expand its efforts into the AI industry, addressing its environmental impact.
- Since 2021, Scope3 has helped brands like Coca-Cola and General Motors reduce carbon emissions in media campaigns, avoiding nearly 3,000 metric tons of emissions, and now plans to apply its methodology to decarbonize the AI supply chain.
- Alongside the funding, Scope3 is releasing its open-source AI methodology to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of AI processes, helping companies balance sustainability with their AI innovations.
PRESS RELEASE — Scope3, the collaborative sustainability platform decarbonizing media and advertising, today announced the closing of $25 million in new funding led by GV. The round included participation from existing investors Venrock, Room40 Ventures, and Craft Ventures, as well as from new investors Aperiam Ventures and Virgo Strategic Investments. The investment will enable Scope3 to expand its work beyond the advertising ecosystem and tackle the pressing climate impact of the booming AI industry.
Since its inception in 2021, Scope3 has been a pioneer in sustainable digital media. Through its ad campaign sustainability solutions and open-source methodology, Scope3 has supplied the media and advertising industries with tools to analyze and reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing ROI, cost or business success. Thousands of brands use Scope3 to measure and decarbonize their media — including Coca-Cola, General Motors, Mastercard, Sanofi, and more — and nearly 3,000 metric tons of carbon emissions have been avoided by using Scope3’s Green Media Products in the last 18 months.
Decarbonization solutions are gaining serious traction across the industry — usage revenue of Scope3 has grown 12x YoY (Q2 ’23 → Q2 ‘24). Now, as AI innovation hits an inflection point and the environmental impact is coming to light, Scope3 is taking its proven approach to decarbonizing the advertising and media supply chain and applying it to AI.
At a time when the climate crisis grows more pressing and severe by the day, the rapid adoption of AI is leaving significant environmental repercussions in its wake. The training process for a single AI model consumes thousands of megawatt hours of electricity and emits hundreds of tons of carbon. Companies across the board are increasingly facing pressure to implement AI strategies while trying to meet climate commitments, and they are struggling to find a clear solution to keep emissions under control. With the marketing industry leading the rapid adoption of AI, Scope3 is uniquely positioned to help companies balance their sustainability goals without compromising their AI ambitions that drive innovation and business success.
“AI and the media industry are soon going to be indistinguishable,” said Brian O’Kelley, Co-Founder and CEO of Scope3. “The biggest AI players are monetizing through advertising, just like the search giants before them, and every marketer is using AI to create the content that fuels their campaigns. That’s why extending our methodology to capture the climate impact of AI is imperative, both for our business and the industry as a whole.”
“The most innovative companies in the world are considering sustainable AI practices that address environmental concerns while delivering real business value. Scope3 has the talent, technology, and expertise needed to decarbonize the media and advertising industry,” said Erik Nordlander, General Partner at GV. “We’ve seen the impact Brian O’Kelley and the Scope3 team have had on the advertising and marketing supply chain, and we’re excited to double down on our investment based on the traction we’ve seen. We’re proud to deepen our partnership with Brian and support Scope3’s mission as we move toward a more sustainable future.”
Alongside the funding, Scope3 is releasing its open-source AI methodology to the public. This methodology sheds light on the digital waste produced by the AI supply chain by precisely tracing and measuring the environmental impacts of the entire life cycle of an AI product, process or service. This ultimately enables every company using AI to make data-driven strategies on when, how and where to apply different AI solutions to reduce their carbon footprints and maximize the efficacy of their AI investments.
About Scope3
Scope3 is on a mission to decarbonize media and advertising. Scope3 makes it easy for everyone in the advertising ecosystem to visualize, measure, and reduce their carbon emissions. This is made possible with Scope3’s first-of-its-kind emissions model developed from open-source methodology to precisely measure the complex and interconnected advertising ecosystem. The model sits at the core of Scope3’s collaborative sustainability platform and every emissions reduction solution offered by the company, including Climate Shield and Green Media Products (GMPs). Most recently, Scope3 has broadened its vision beyond the advertising ecosystem to encompass the AI industry as a whole, aiming to help companies reduce their carbon footprints as AI technology hits an inflection point.
Scope3 is a public benefit corporation with a global team of researchers, technologists, and digital advertising pioneers distributed across North America, Europe, and APAC, tackling the biggest challenge of our generation: the climate crisis.
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