Regulation is tightening

• Sustainability reporting is clearly moving toward mandatory requirements, with growing interest from policymakers in product- and service‑level digital emissions, not just organisational footprints.

Digital emissions remain hard to report

• Participants highlighted ongoing challenges with Scope 3 categorisation, inconsistent supplier data, and the unresolved treatment of AI and end‑user emissions within current GHG frameworks.

Print vs. digital isn’t black and white

• While digital is generally less carbon‑intensive than print, the gap narrows when user-side emissions are included, and rising digital usage is driving emissions growth across the sector.

Efficiency gaps are a real opportunity

• Cloud inefficiencies, legacy systems and dormant accounts were identified as avoidable sources of emissions where awareness exists but action lags.

AI is a growing focus

• Publisher AI use cases differ significantly from media and broadcast models, with ongoing, user‑driven inference and indirect impacts that are not yet well captured in standard carbon accounting.

Better usage data matters

• Improving how reading time and digital usage are estimated was seen as critical for credible measurement and external reporting.

Momentum for collaboration

• The group agreed on next steps including deeper knowledge‑sharing on supplier data, alignment with emerging software carbon frameworks and a future session focused on user behaviour and sustainability.

These insights will help shape DIMPACT’s ongoing work to support publishers in navigating digital sustainability with greater clarity and impact.