• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 19, 2022

Advertising and marketing have played a central role in driving consumerism and shaping trends, culture and buying habits for decades.

But will the industry be as influential in reshaping habits and culture to drive sustainability, now considered critical to reversing the climate crisis and keeping the planet inhabitable for future generations?

It's an open question, although the major industry holding companies have made various commitments to cut their carbon emissions as well as the carbon footprints that exist throughout their supply chains. They've even made suggestions to clients about how to go about reducing emissions.

That said, they're not all on the same page when it comes to specific commitments or even how to accurately measure carbon emission outputs.

But GroupM is hoping to change that and today announced a framework for a plan to measure carbon emissions across the advertising industry with the goal of sharply reducing those emissions within the next decade.   

According to the firm, the framework is the first set of measurement methodologies to break down the media value chain and define the necessary data inputs to measure carbon emissions across all stages of the advertising lifecycle for all formats, channels and markets in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s standards. 

The effort is the first major step GroupM is taking to deliver on its commitment to decarbonize its media supply chain by 2030. (Other holding companies have issued similar vows and timeframes). 

Leading the effort on the new framework at GroupM  is Global Chief Innovation Officer Krystal Olivieri and Oliver Joyce, Global Chief Transformation Officer at GroupM agency Mindshare. They worked with independent specialists in carbon measurement and also received input from clients, industry partners, third parties, and experts across GroupM and WPP.

The work includes a carbon calculator which will allow media planners to map the total carbon footprint of advertising campaigns from development to delivery. It will be available to GroupM clients in Q4. 

The company hopes the effort will galvanize the industry to get behind a single, more manageable approach to reducing carbon emissions. “By sharing this global framework, we hope to begin aligning our industry behind a consistent set of standards that will create clear goals and incentives for rapidly decarbonizing the media supply chain,” stated GroupM global CEO Christian Juhl.

The company has issued a report that details the work and objectives of the project. It also suggests some steps that can be taken now to reduce some emissions, including buying fewer ads from higher-quality publishers and using fewer intermediaries.

The report can be downloaded here.