Cutting carbon emissions: What’s the best idea someone else has come up with?

Reducing carbon emissions is a core goal for the advertising industry - digital advertising included. Many companies (including IAB UK) are Ad Net Zero supporters and have pledged to achieve net zero by 2030. Achieving this means embracing each other’s ideas, learning from one another and working together like never before. At the IAB, we have recently launched Environmental Sustainability FAQs for our members to help improve transparency and accountability in this space - you can find out more and get involved here.

Following COP28, we have asked some of the companies that have so far submitted to the FAQs to share the single best idea or initiative they have seen from another company to help tackle climate change. 

An edited version of this article was first published on The Drum. 
 

What’s the best idea or initiative you have seen from another company? 

Co-op’s community fridges

Pamela Stathaki (Head of Sustainability & Social impact, UK & EMEA, dentsu): “The net-zero transition requires multi-stakeholder collaboration. Co-op’s community fridges initiative with food waste charity Hubbub, which redistributes surplus food to people in need, is a fantastic example of this. The net-zero transition is also dependent upon human and societal behaviour change. Advertising can change the way people think, feel and act to drive the demand to a sustainable economy. Our industry can make lower carbon products desirable, like second-hand furniture in IKEA's 'Green Friday' campaign, which ultimately helps the consumer, the business and society.”

Clear Channel UK’s Bee Bus Stops

Emma Newman (CRO EMEA, PubMatic): “I love what Clear Channel UK have done with their Bee Bus Stop initiative.  This ticks a number of boxes for me, enabling cities to become more sustainable and eco-friendly by supporting one of the most important creatures to our planet – the humble bee.” 

Heineken’s work stands out 

Lauren White (Director, Client Partnerships, VDX.tv): “Heineken’s global sustainability efforts have been encouraging, achieving an 18% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions since 2018. Their strategy employs a multifaceted approach that includes 130 renewable energy projects, dynamic creative optimizations, and they have claimed five of the world’s largest on-site solar-powered breweries - alongside advancements in farming and ingredient sourcing.”

Amazon’s carbon reduction initiatives are colossal

Chris Scott (Managing Director ‑ Media, FOCUS Agency Group): “Amazon’s global initiatives in carbon reduction are colossal. This includes investing in wind and solar capacity equivalent to powering all Echo, Fire TV, and Ring devices globally by 2025, highlighting their commitment to sustainability throughout product life cycles. Their accelerated timeline to power all operations, including advertising, with 100% renewable energy by 2025 - five years ahead of their initial goal - further demonstrates their dedication.”

BBC World’s commitment is unabating

Laura McNally (Marketing Director, Auto Trader): “BBC World’s commitment to covering climate change is unabating and their broadcasts demonstrate integrity and passion for the planet. Their global programme ‘The Climate Question’ delves into a diverse range of takes on it, enabling understanding and the steps being taken around the world to respond to it. They balance hardcore investigation and realism with the sense of hope we need to take action.”

Scope 3 = an effective route to carbon reduction 

Milica Lukic (Account Director & UK ESG Champion, Adform): “Scope3’s emissions analytics are very impressive. Its carbon tracking tool, which has been integrated into leading Demand-Side Platforms, enables users to measure their advertising footprint across media. This creates an effective route to carbon reduction by allowing media planners to review, plan and optimise their campaigns directly within the DSP - ensuring delivery with reduced emissions but without reduced performance.”

More than a single idea

Marion Cardona (COO & Co-Founder, IMPACT+): “Rather than one single idea, the biggest difference to emissions will come through ongoing, long-term, consistent changes to the way advertisers plan, buy and distribute their digital ad campaigns. There are several ways advertisers can reduce emissions, and only through continuous measurement, evaluation and optimisation over a long period will we be able to seriously tackle ad land’s oversized carbon footprint.”
 

What is the one most interesting or surprising step your company has taken to reduce carbon emissions? 

Utilising renewable energy

Emma Newman (CRO EMEA, PubMatic): “The impact our investment in renewable energy has had on our carbon footprint surprised me: according to the results of our inaugural Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement initiative (in partnership with 51 to Carbon Zero) utilising renewable energy in our data centres has seen our carbon intensity per FTE decrease to 0.69 tCO2e, compared to an industry average of 3.4.”

Accelerating electric cars 

Chris Scott (Managing Director ‑ Media, FOCUS Agency Group): “This year marked the first year that the majority (75%+) of our company cars were electric or hybrid. Resulting in a reduction of C02 by 15% for hybrid cars according to a Transport & Environment briefing, and 17%-30% for electric cars, according to EDF energy. This significant investment has reduced CO2 emissions produced from car travel by approximately 20%.”

Improving accountability across the business

Pamela Stathaki (Head of Sustainability & Social Impact, UK & EMEA, dentsu): “In 2022, dentsu linked its executive incentive targets and £500m of corporate finance to related ESG targets, driving accelerated investment and action in decarbonisation. This has not only improved accountability across the business and encouraged teams to explore innovative ways to reduce emissions, but also resulted in a 52.8% reduction of Scope 1 and 2 absolute carbon emissions across Dentsu Group in 2022.” 

Priortising the planet & performance

Marion Cardona (COO & Co-Founder, IMPACT+): “Education is key to advertisers reaching their sustainability targets. Digital marketers are not climate scientists, and tracking emissions is a relatively new campaign consideration. To help, we recently launched a whitepaper that shares best practice. Our new Environmental Sustainability Platform also gives advertisers the insights they need to evaluate and reduce their GHG emissions without having to choose planet over performance.”

Focusing on attention metrics

Lauren White (Director, Client Partnerships, VDX.tv): “VDX.tv has focused efforts on optimising content from the outset of a campaign. We’ve made progress by utilising creative weight optimisations and employing tools and partners, such Neurons and Scope3, to perform campaign tests that put an emphasis on increasing attention metrics. By doing so, it's possible to eliminate ineffective impressions, leading to more efficient advertising and organisational practices.”

Environmental mindfulness education

Milica Lukic (Account Director & UK ESG Champion, Adform): “Our Sustainability Champions team meets regularly to discuss how we measure emissions data and what changes can be made to positively impact this. Our achievements include understanding how many tons of recycling we produce, introducing a food waste bin, and educating the team on environmental mindfulness. For example, ensuring we replace flights with trains wherever possible.”

A carbon literacy toolkit

Laura McNally (Marketing Director, Auto Trader): “We’re helping our people to understand their own carbon impact and pledge to make a difference via training provided by the Carbon Literacy Project, in which we have achieved Platinum level literacy status. We funded the creation of a Carbon Literacy toolkit for the automotive sector, which has been completed by 2,176 automotive professionals, and we’re also shortly launching a technology sector toolkit.”