Scope3 Launches AI Carbon Footprint Tracking for Sustainable Tech

Scope3, founded by Brian O'Kelley, aims to bring sustainability to the digital landscape by tracking and reducing the carbon footprint of AI and digital advertising. With a background in ad tech and supply chain management, O'Kelley realized the potential for impactful change in the digital world.

Brian O'Kelley's Inspiration

Brian O'Kelley, after selling his ad platform AppNexus to AT&T for $1.6 billion, found himself deeply impacted by a lecture during an MIT supply chain management course he took during COVID. The lecture detailed the carbon footprint of everyday items like a banana, which sparked a major realization for O'Kelley.

Transition from Commodities to Carbon Impact

At that time, O'Kelley was leading a metal commodities trading platform focused on reducing carbon emissions from trading and transportation. Despite his efforts, he realized that the most significant carbon emissions from metals like copper and aluminum came from the mining and smelting processes, which he couldn't fundamentally change. This realization led him to think about the digital world, where he believed the potential for impactful carbon reduction was far greater.

The Birth of Scope3

Inspired by this idea, O'Kelley began to outline a platform that could track the carbon footprint of digital ads. He spun off the commodities business and used the underlying supply chain tracking technology to establish Scope3 in 2021. The concept behind Scope3 was to tackle the inefficiencies and environmental impact of digital advertising, which O'Kelley described as both an economic and environmental mess.

Scope3's Mission: Cleaning Up Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is plagued by inefficiencies—nearly a quarter of the money spent on programmatic ads is wasted due to fraud, intermediaries, or ads displayed outside the browser view. By addressing these issues, Scope3 aims to make advertising more effective by ensuring money is going to ads that people will actually see, while also reducing its environmental impact. By minimizing wasted ads, Scope3 helps reduce the power consumption of data centers, ultimately lowering carbon emissions.

Pivot to AI: A New Direction for Scope3

Earlier this year, after undergoing unexpected heart surgery, O'Kelley had time to explore AI and its intersection with media. He realized that AI was becoming a major part of the advertising landscape, with AI-generated ads, web pages, and even search content becoming more common. This realization prompted him to see the alignment between Scope3's mission and the evolving AI landscape.

Exploring the Intersection of AI and Climate Tech

O'Kelley reached out to GV, one of Scope3's investors, initially to gather competitive insights. During their discussions, he discovered that while many founders were focused on AI or climate tech, very few were exploring the intersection of the two. This insight led to a new $25 million funding round, led by GV, to help Scope3 expand its focus to include AI. Other investors such as Aperiam Ventures, Craft Ventures, Room40 Ventures, Venrock, and Virgo Strategic Investments also participated in the round.

Scope3's Vision for AI and Sustainability

Currently, Scope3 is building models and gathering data for the AI aspect of their business. O'Kelley envisions a similar approach to the one used for digital ads, emphasizing alignment between economic and environmental costs. Scope3 aims to bring transparency to AI's energy consumption, encouraging companies to be mindful of their environmental impact while also optimizing costs.

What This Means for AI and Carbon Tracking

Scope3's initiative to track the carbon footprint of AI marks a significant step toward addressing the environmental impact of digital technologies. As AI becomes a bigger part of everyday life, understanding and reducing its carbon emissions is increasingly important. By leveraging their experience in digital advertising, Scope3 aims to bring transparency to AI's often hidden energy demands. This approach not only promotes responsible AI usage but also aligns economic goals with sustainability. Ultimately, Scope3's work could pave the way for an industry standard in developing and deploying AI technologies with minimal environmental impact.