Scope3 Launches Carbon Footprint Tracking for Artificial Intelligence

It all started with a banana.

Brian O’Kelley, who recently sold his previous startup, ad platform AppNexus, to AT&T for an impressive $1.6 billion, found inspiration during a lecture from MIT’s yearlong supply chain management course amidst the COVID pandemic. “There was a slide discussing the carbon footprint of a banana, and it truly fascinated me.”

At that moment, O’Kelley was running a metal commodities trading platform he had launched, aimed at minimizing carbon emissions associated with trading and transportation. “I was eager to make a real-world impact,” he shared. “The advertising industry always felt transient.” Within a short period, his platform was already handling about 25% of the copper entering the U.S., he noted.

However, through the MIT course, O’Kelley discovered that the majority of the carbon emissions related to metals like copper and aluminum originated from mining and smelting. “While we could implement various optimizations, we couldn’t make a fundamental change.”

That’s when it clicked. “In the digital realm, it’s entirely different.”

He envisioned a platform focused on tracking carbon emissions in digital advertising, steering him back to advertising—but with a fresh perspective.

In 2021, O’Kelley transitioned from his commodities business, harnessing the core supply chain tracking technology to launch Scope3. The new venture aimed to address the rampant inefficiency in digital advertising: a staggering 25% of programmatic ad spending is wasted, according to a study by the Association of National Advertisers. This wasted spend often goes to intermediaries, fraud, or ads that aren’t even visible to users. “It’s easy for money to get lost in this relatively new industry,” O’Kelley explained.

By tackling these issues, Scope3 assures clients that more of their budget will be allocated to effective ads that reach actual viewers, while simultaneously lowering their carbon footprints through reduced ad volume, which in turn decreases the energy consumption of data centers. To identify the waste and its impact on carbon emissions, Scope3 collected data and developed robust models.

Earlier this year, O’Kelley faced an unexpected health challenge, requiring heart surgery. During his recovery, he immersed himself in the world of AI. “I finally found the time to explore AI,” he stated. This cutting-edge technology is rapidly transforming the advertising landscape, as companies investigate its potential in digital ads and media.

“I realized media and AI are converging; people are using AI to craft ads, generate web pages, and even create AI-generated search results,” O’Kelley noted. “This is directly aligned with our business.” As he expanded on this notion, he thought, “I can’t be the only one thinking this way.” Consequently, he scheduled a meeting with GV, one of Scope3’s current investors. “Honestly, I was looking for competitive insight,” he admitted.

In that discussion, O’Kelley learned that while many founders were pitching AI or climate tech startups, very few were exploring the intersection of the two fields. This revelation sparked a new funding round for Scope3, with GV leading a $25 million round aimed at propelling the startup into the AI space. Other investors joining the round included Aperiam Ventures, Craft Ventures, Room40 Ventures, Venrock, and Virgo Strategic Investments.

Scope3 is still in the process of amassing data and developing models for its AI initiatives, but O’Kelley anticipates that their approach for customers will closely parallel their digital advertising strategy. “We foresee a strong alignment between economic costs and environmental impact,” he concluded.