New data, published in AdGreen’s first Annual Review, highlights the huge opportunity for carbon reduction in the process of ad production around the world. Analysing 515 projects from 87 companies, the findings show that travel and transport activities across all projects accounted for the highest percentage of emissions (62.4%), followed by energy and fuels (24.6%), and materials (12.4%).

The report shows the opportunity for advertisers, creative agencies, and production companies to increase data analysis, collaborate more closely and adopt new, more sustainable approaches to content creation. Significant changes to ad operations are crucial for the industry to meet its net zero target.

Sebastian Munden, Chair, Ad Net Zero, said: “Ad Green has created a powerful resource for any advertiser and their partners to take active steps to reduce carbon emissions from their ad production process. 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. We urge all companies, including the growing number of supporters in the Ad Net Zero community, to review these findings and take practical action on all the productions they are planning this year. Many users have found ways to save costs as well as carbon. The training, calculator, tools and techniques are all freely available at the point of use, so nothing could be easier or smarter than adopting their use with immediate effect.”

AdGreen is backed by the Advertising Association, a co-founder of Ad Net Zero alongside ISBA and the IPA, to ensure the offer to the production community accurately reflects the industry it is supporting. AdGreen has been adopted by many organisations, both in the UK and internationally, and for members of Ad Net Zero it is one way of implementing Action 2 of the programme: reducing emissions from ad production.

Download the AdGreen Annual Review here.