GroupM introduces framework to cut ad-based carbon emissions

WPP-owned media investment company GroupM introduced a global framework which it will use to track and reduce ad-based carbon emissions. The news comes a year after the company revealed plans to decarbonize its media supply chain by the year 2030. 

The company said that the new framework outlines the methodologies it will adopt to track and decrease the carbon emissions throughout all the five stages of the advertising process, across all channels and markets, and in compliance with the standards set by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

“Our clients want to prioritize media investment with publishers and platforms that are actively decarbonizing their media supply,” said GroupM’s Global CEO Christian Juhl. ‘’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.”

The framework, for which GroupM collaborated with independent specialists in carbon measurement, industry partners, experts, clients and third-parties, will also highlight various measures that advertisers are recommended to take to reduce carbon emissions, such as buying a less quantity of ads that have higher quality, minimizing supply chain complexity by reducing the number of ad intermediaries, etc. 

The global framework will be made available to the GroupM clients later this year, according to the statement. 

GroupM’s parent company WPP is among the backers of Ad Net Zero, an initiative launched by The Advertising Association (AA), the IPA and ISBA in 2020 to bring British advertisers together to fight against global warming by reducing ad-backed carbon emissions to zero by 2030.

Ad Net Zero executive Sebastian Munden said, ‘’This is no easy task, especially as we scale the efforts of Ad Net Zero globally. We would need an agreed standardized approach that works for all parts of the ecosystem: advertisers, agencies, media and tech. This move by GroupM is hugely welcome, and a very timely development to help deliver those aims.’’