Joe Lanzerotti
Hot. Hotter. Hottest. The world's on track for another summer of record-breaking temperatures. Right now, 2024 is on pace to beat 2023 as the hottest year on record and this past June marked the 13th month in a row to set YOY heat records. These rising temperatures and their impact on people around the globe are, of course, escalating climate change concerns, too. What can we do?
Looking on the bright side, the growing urgency around climate change has led to thousands of companies pledging to do better, either by reducing their carbon emissions and energy usage, or by offsetting their energy consumption with carbon credits or other nature-based offset programs. Progress rarely moves in a straight line, however. In a surprise turn of events, Google—carbon neutral since 2007—just lost its carbon neutral status. There are myriad reasons that likely contributed to this change, but one stands out—the rise of energy-intensive AI computing. For example, a single ChatGPT query uses 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, compared to 0.3 watt-hours for a standard search. Google remains committed to being carbon neutral again by 2030.
AI is only going to get bigger. It’s enhancing and streamlining processes across every major industry, including Ad Tech. Kargo is currently building and testing AI tools to better serve our clients, deliver campaigns more effectively, and uncover deeper insights and trends. As focused on this new technology as we are, Kargo is still strongly committed to achieving our sustainability goals, and has made significant progress since our last sustainability update in April 2024.
As promised in that post, Kargo has officially joined Ad Net Zero, an advertising trade group with the goal of reducing our industry’s impact on the environment. Starting in August, Kargo will be on Ad Net Zero’s steering leadership committee, as well as participants in the organization’s Action Group 1 (removing emissions from business operations) and Action Group 3 (reducing emissions from planning & buying). Additionally, Kargo has applied to become a member of The Climate Registry, a non-profit that helps empower businesses to move towards a carbon neutral future. Finally, we’ll be sending our 2023 energy report to environmental services firm Cameron-Cole for third-party verification before the summer is over.
As the climate and the industry heat up, Kargo remains cool—and cooling—under pressure.
