Carbon Emissions During Ad Production Vary Widely, Demonstrating Opportunity to Curb Impact

Not all ad productions are created equal when it comes to sustainability—and new data shows the massive opportunity to curb impact. AdGreen, a project of the U.K.-based trade group Advertising Association with the goal of eliminating the environmental impact of production, this week released its first annual review. The report, which analyses data from the group's carbon calculator tool based on inputs from its users, aims to determine a baseline for the carbon footprint of ad production. Top line The review analyzed data from 515 projects completed during 2022, representing roughly 2,500 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions. This represents only a fraction of the total number of productions that advertisers undertake in a year—many of which likely emit far more than the average of those analyzed by AdGreen. People Want Transparency on Climate Progress: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly "Engagement is needed from organizations working on larger scale productions so that we have a more even picture," Jo Fenn, global director of AdGreen, said in a statement. "As more of these larger projects are recorded in the tool, we expect the average project size to rise, along with the other related data points.” Still, the report demonstrates how widely productions can vary in terms of impact. While 289 projects emitted less than one ton of CO2 emissions, four clocked in at over 100 tons each. The mean size of a completed project was 4.7 tons of CO2 emissions, an amount of carbon that would require 5.6 acres of forest to suck it back out of the environment, according to the EPA. Between the lines Travel and transportation make up the largest portion of a production's carbon budget, AdGreen found, representing over 60% of the emissions generated by all activities recorded. Of those projects that emitted over 100 tons of CO2, roughly three-quarters of their emissions came from travel and transport. Energy and fuels used to power spaces, including studios, locations, hotels and post-production suites, made up the next biggest portion of emissions, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total emissions recorded. Materials accounted for a little over 12% of total emissions, while disposal accounted for less than 1%. AdGreen launched its carbon calculator in September 2021. Since then, over 750 creative agencies, production houses and service companies have registered for a free account. "The tool is the first step," Clare Donald, chief production officer for Publicis Groupe U.K. and AdGreen advisory board member, said in a statement. "The next step is for us to build on our learnings and work together as an industry to move production towards genuinely sustainable solutions.” Bottom line AdGreen is part of a broader movement within the ad industry to curb the overall climate impact of production. Its carbon calculator is one of many similar tools that have been developed by trade groups, agencies and production houses in the last several years in an attempt to develop more accurate estimates of the emissions created by the production side of the ad industry. The group's tool is "a powerful resource for any advertiser and their partners to take active steps to reduce carbon emissions from their ad production process," Sebastian Munden, chair of Ad Net Zero, said in a statement. "The ability to calculate and predict the potential impact of production choices on emissions creates the opportunity for an active discussion right at the start of the process, rather just reporting and mitigating at the end."