GroupM is upgrading its carbon calculator to measure the carbon footprint of client campaigns more accurately via a new partnership with Scope3, a company that offers supply chain emissions data. The partnership marks an acceleration in getting vendor-level data within programmatic advertising to see real results in reducing carbon emissions, GroupM said. The agency will also have first-to-market access to Scope3’s planning platform.

“The publisher-level data doesn’t actually exist today,” said Krystal Olivieri, global chief innovation officer for GroupM and Choreograph. “It’s aggregated, which is a useful starting point, but not where we need to get to to actually drive reduction,” she added. “We’re on a multiyear journey to get to a place where we have all of the publisher data and can actually start making plan-level decisions.”

This marks the latest iteration of the WPP media group’s carbon calculator, which is part of the company's commitment to decarbonize its media supply chain by 2030. WPP pledged a commitment to net-zero carbon emissions in 2021. 

The new Channel-Level Carbon Calculator integrates GroupM’s carbon measurement methodology, which the agency devised in July 2022 with input from a big four consulting firm to compare data across all media channels. 

The methodology builds on the guidance put forth by Ad Net Zero, which opened a U.S. chapter this month and aims to reduce advertising’s carbon impact. WPP and GroupM are active members of the organization.  

The new methodology looks at emissions data resulting from the digital media supply chain or resulting from the production of a campaign's creative from “cradle to gate,” measuring an ad's carbon footprint from inception until it's seen by a consumer, according to Kieley Taylor, global head of partnerships and managing director at GroupM. 

“It’s tricky to normalize across channels and that’s why many calculators today don't have that within their methodology,” Taylor said. “We’re looking to normalize and standardize within the methodology.” 

And in the spirit of collaboration toward the goal of net-zero carbon emission, GroupM’s methodology is open-source, allowing everyone in the industry access to the methods and formulas that built the agency's calculator.

In action, the calculator could measure a piece of creative made on Photoshop that needs to be uploaded and tagged for bidding to place it programmatically, said Olivieri. “The website needs to talk to the bid, which needs to talk to the ad server,” she said. “And every time you call those servers, they heat up and produce energy, which will generate carbon emissions.” 

For a print campaign, carbon emissions could be higher or lower depending on the type of paper that is used or where it is transported from. 

With more data, clients can get closer to GroupM's goal of reducing the amount of carbon emissions per media impression by 50% by 2030, according to Olivieri, and they can benchmark how much progress they have made.

“Clients are really interested in understanding benchmarking to be able to then get to a place where they can start making decisions to drive reduction,” she said. “Clients are very leaned in and eager in this space, which is phenomenal.” 

Over the next six months, as it gathers more data, GroupM plans to hold media partners that place and host ads accountable, said Taylor. 

“We want to use our influence in a focused way to get good behaviors that are most impactful,” Taylor said. “We will ask [media partners] to keep us informed on how they’re progressing, but we will find a different partner that is less emitting so that we can drive good performance and good outcomes for the planet at the same time.”

Critics of WPP and Ad Net Zero such as the activist group Clean Creatives argue that climate goals can never be met as long as they continue to work with fossil fuel clients.