Media climate charter

A Charter to Accelerate Zero Carbon Transition for the Media Agency Industry

The charter was developed by the Advertising Association’s Media Agency Climate Action Group that formed just after the announcement of the wider working group and consists of members from Mindshare, Mediacom, the7stars, Manning Gottlieb, Rapport and PHD Media. The group was set up to provide media agencies with the tools and resources to demonstrate their commitment and action in the face of the climate crisis.

The IPA Media Futures Group, which represents the UK’s major media agencies, is asking its members to adopt the Climate Charter.

The IPA Media Futures Group Climate Charter maps out initiatives that are specific to how media agencies can reduce their carbon footprint, as well operational best practice for reducing the impact of doing business and some measures that are universal for all the advertising industry to adopt (such as #ChangeTheBrief and AdGreen, described on pages 31 and 17 of this report).

The two specific media agency initiatives currently under development are a sustainability index of media owners and a carbon calculator for media plans.

The media owner sustainability index initiative comes from a recognition that media agencies have a key influence on the supply chain through the selection of media partners, based on various factors including audience, content and increasingly the values of those media partners. The charter recognises that the work media agencies do with their media owner partners represents a significant opportunity to align and jointly address the challenges we face regarding our climate, and aims to build a commitment to a solution for a more sustainable industry.

The carbon calculator for media plans recognises again the role media agencies play in reducing carbon impact in the wider supply chain and shines a light on the gap in how clients measure their overall carbon footprint. For the most part, media investment is not currently part of their footprint calculation. This is perhaps because media spend contributes towards the building of the intangible (but extremely valuable) equity of a brand rather than the more tangible assets of a product or service. With the calculator, the industry can now measure the overall carbon footprint of the campaigns that media agencies plan and buy for clients across all channels, and they can start to work to reduce the climate impact of running clients’ campaigns.

It is the group’s belief that this charter will act as a critical first step towards transitioning the media industry to a carbon zero future, and that the collective power of multiple media agencies coming together will enable the industry to affect positive and sustained change more quickly and holistically.