AdExchanger Talks — "The Business Case For Carbon Cuts"

Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Alison Schiff (AdExchanger Managing Editor)
Guest: Anne Coughlin (COO & Co-founder, Scope3)

Episode Overview

This episode explores the intersection of sustainability, technology, and business outcomes in the world of digital advertising. Alison Schiff sits down with Anne Coughlin, COO and co-founder of Scope3, to discuss how carbon emissions and waste in programmatic advertising are closely intertwined and why environmental sustainability is becoming inseparable from financial efficiency. They dive into Scope3’s mission, the evolution of “agentic” media platforms, and the transformative impact of AI—both its pitfalls and promises. Coughlin offers candid insights into industry complications, the shifting role of environmental metrics, and where the open web fits in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Evolution of Scope3

• Anne’s Journey and Partnership with Brian O’Kelley

  • Early roles at AppNexus, rise through product strategy.
  • Joined O’Kelley in supply chain tech (Weybridge), then co-founded Scope3 post-COVID.
  • Their “outside-in” perspective fuelled the startup: "We were seeing continued inefficiency... ANA reports year after year, percentage of working media still hovering around 45%." (11:55 - 13:30)

• From Ad Waste to Environmental Impact

  • The initial cynicism from the industry: “Advertising carbon emissions are negligible compared to bigger issues like streaming or AI energy use.” (11:00)
  • Scope3’s pitch: Carbon is both a lens and a lever for reducing overall waste—financial and environmental.
  • "There’s such a correlation between financial waste and environmental waste...making ad transactions more sustainable often just means cutting out inefficiencies." (15:11)

2. The Business Case for Sustainability

• Measuring Real Change

  • Emissions measurement is foundational but not an end: "First you have to measure the thing to see how bad it is...then you can innovate." (20:21)
  • Early results: "Through the use of reduction suggestions, 29% lower carbon emissions overall." (19:00)

• Sustainability as a Selling Point—Still Core, But Evolving

  • Now, sustainability is not only about feeling good: "There needed to be true business impact." (13:30)
  • Framing sustainability as both an environmental and an industry-saving necessity: “Sustainability, not just as the environment, but the industry itself...you really need to subtract for digital advertising to function.” (18:00 - 18:31)

3. Rise of AI and Agentic Media

• AI’s Double-Edged Sword

  • Scope3’s Agentic Media platform: AI-driven tools for efficiency, sustainability, and brand safety, all deeply interconnected.
  • “If we think about the programmatic supply chain...then add AI on top of every single company...that’s just throwing AI on top of the problem versus figuring out how to solve it.” (31:39)

• Agentic Tools: Moving Past "More Keywordy"

  • Many companies create surface-level AI features; Scope3 wants agentic, reasoning-driven automation for safer, smarter media buying.
  • Innovative features: Brand agents make decisions early in the supply chain, integrating suitability, carbon, and business goals.
  • “What if an agent could put all of that together and decide, so that when an impression was up for the taking, the agent could say ‘yes, I want to buy this’ on behalf of the brand?” (34:03)

• Brand Safety Rethought

  • Why pay for negative verification? “It’s running scared. It's very negative. It's like, what do I want to avoid? And not what do I want to be near? There's a fear there.” (33:55 — Alison)
  • Precise targeting via AI can free up 25% of media spend for reinvestment—making markets more liquid and efficient. (36:14)

4. AI and Sustainability — Walking the Talk

• Balancing AI’s Carbon Appetite

  • Coughlin acknowledges concerns: “You can't be a sustainability-focused startup with technology that isn't energy efficient. That’s like a non-starter.” (39:14)
  • Scope3 evaluates tech partners based on sustainability reports, measures AI’s carbon and water output, and publishes open tools for industry use.
  • AI efficiency improving, especially on text-based inference: “44 times lower carbon footprint in a year...” (41:43)

• Reimagining the Auction

  • “This isn’t an AI agent making a decision on every ad request...we’re thinking about what the ecosystem should actually evolve into...how to avoid sprinkling AI like fairy dust.” (41:43)

5. Future of Advertising & The Open Web

• Agents, Automation, and Human Roles

  • Will media buyers be reduced to “setting strategy and checking in periodically”?
    • Coughlin: “Yes, but there’s a protocol coming for agents to transact...launching October 15.” (44:19 - 45:30)
  • The future is much closer than many realize.

• The Open Web – Cautiously Optimistic

  • Schiff: “Does the open web have a future?”
  • Coughlin: “I’m optimistic...but custodians, meaning everyone in the industry, have to be smart and avoid turning the open web into ‘slop.’” (46:30)

6. What Should the Industry Leave or Embrace?

• Abandon Transaction ID Obsession:

  • “Everyone has been talking about transaction IDs. I think that’s just an example of industry groups fighting with each other versus actually taking a step back.” (49:53)

• 2026’s Real Focus:

  • “Agentic advertising...and figuring out what that really looks like.” (49:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Startup Motivation:

  “We saw the advertising ecosystem still fundamentally had an incredible amount of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness...there was a problem with waste.” — Anne Coughlin (12:00)

• On Carbon as a Metric:

  “It was a really good way of having something that couldn’t really be argued with.” — Anne Coughlin (14:30)

• Humor on AI Hype:

  “Or we’re using AI now to make your keyword lists more keywordy.” — Anne Coughlin (31:39) “Oh no, not more keywordy.” — Alison Schiff (31:47)

• On Brand Safety:

  “It's running scared. It's very negative. It's like, what do I want to avoid? And not what do I want to be near? There's a fear there.” — Alison Schiff (33:55) “It's a shame that you have to pay someone to tell you all this stuff is okay. It should just be part and parcel of a media transaction.” — Anne Coughlin (37:14)

• On Environmental Tech Decisions:

  “You can't be a sustainability-focused startup with technology that isn't energy efficient. That’s like a non-starter.” — Alison Schiff (39:14)

• On Industry Distractions:

  “I think we could leave [transaction IDs] in 2025...an example of industry groups fighting with each other versus actually trying to figure out the collective problem.” — Anne Coughlin (49:53)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Guest Intro & Background: 02:01 – 07:08
• Why Focus on Ad Emissions: 10:04 – 13:30
• Business Case for Carbon Cuts: 15:11 – 16:13
• Industry Progress on Decarbonization: 19:00 – 20:21
• Brand Safety & Media Quality with AI: 33:55 – 37:14
• Competing/Coexisting with Verification Providers: 36:45 – 39:14
• AI Sustainability Strategy: 39:44 – 43:22
• The Agentic Future – Protocols & Industry Standards: 44:19 – 45:39
• The Open Web’s Survival: 46:30 – 48:38
• Industry Trends to Drop & Embrace: 49:53 – 51:02

Conclusion

Anne Coughlin offers a vision of an advertising industry where environmental and business incentives are finally aligned. Scope3’s approach treats carbon reduction not just as a virtue but as a critical lever for efficiency and market health—blending techno-optimism with clear-eyed realism. The agentic, AI-driven future is here, but the industry must beware of simply piling AI onto a broken system. Instead, collaboration, transparency, and sustainability need to be built into the ecosystem’s new protocols. The open web can survive, Coughlin believes, but only if its custodians—publishers, brands, agencies, and tech providers—actively fight to keep it vibrant and valuable.

Host’s Parting Sentiment:

“I am in favor of this and I just hope that we don’t continue to participate in our own death spiral...I like having a job. It’s really fun going to websites and reading things. So let’s just keep doing that.” — Alison Schiff (48:38)