Purpose Disruptors Calls for Radical Industry Collaboration to Address Climate Crisis

When thinking about pollution, emissions, and the climate crisis, obvious culprits come to mind: oil companies, the aviation industry, fast fashion. The climate experts at Race to Zero and Oxford Net Zero are proposing an additional lens through which to view contribution to the climate crisis: serviced emissions. This is outlined in a framework that puts the responsibility for reducing global emissions in the hands of the previously overlooked service providers: law, advisors, architects, accounting, PR firms, and advertising. Alongside this, Purpose Disruptors, a network of advertising and marketing professionals working together to meaningfully tackle climate change, has published a report titled ‘Advertising's Evolutionary Moment’, demonstrating how two leading advertisers – OLIVER UK and M&C Saatchi – are applying the framework in practice. 

Speaking to Jonathan Wise, co-founder of Purpose Disruptors, LBB wanted to learn more about the role that serviced emissions play in the climate conversation today. Jonathan noted how the past few years have seen a focus on ‘operational emissions’ like office and building emissions, travel, production, and decarbonisation of media choices. That’s not only insufficient, but an obfuscation of the problem at heart: “The emissions associated with the primary goal of the advertising industry, as the architects of desire: to stimulate consumption on behalf of clients,” Jonathan states, drawing attention to ‘advertised emissions’ that encompass the totality of the impact generated by products and services generated through the influence created by advertising campaigns. 

Purpose Disruptors tackles the greenwashing issue head on with Jonathan saying that serviced and advertised emissions go even deeper as they consider the overall contribution organisations like advertising agencies want to make, and their role in the world as ‘architects of desire’ which can be positively channelled into relationships with truly green organisations that are actively looking to address the climate crisis. 

Below, LBB speaks to Jonathan about the report to learn more about the existential changes that the advertising industry needs to make – fast – to tackle green issues, why it will require radical collaboration across and within industries, and hears from Lucy Usher, head of sustainability a OLIVER, and Pamela Noakes, global sustainability director at M&C Saatchi, about where agencies can get started with the six-point framework.

LBB> How did you work out that ‘serviced emissions’ are the missing link in measurement? 

Jonathan> Race to Zero and Oxford Net Zero actually worked this out! As climate experts, they have vast experience of defining and promoting best practices across different sectors of an economy. They realised that professional service providers (PSPs), such as lawyers, management consultants and of course advertising companies have an enormous influence on the overall economy and they are capable of “propelling exponential change”.  Yet, at present their current climate focus is largely limited to operational emissions. So a gap exists. How can the PSP community be encouraged to play a greater role, using the skills they have, and shift us towards a more sustainable society? Through taking responsibility for the impact of the services and advice they offer their own clients: to consider their Serviced Emissions. This will allow the PSP to step up and equal the level of commitment and change we are witnessing in other sectors – like energy, automotive, food and banking. It’s exciting and transformative for the industry!

LBB> What are the key differences between ‘operational emissions’ and ‘advertised emissions’?

Jonathan> To date, the advertising industry has made great strides in getting ‘its house in order’, in understanding and quantifying the operational and supply chain emissions of advertising. ‘Operational emissions’ focus solely on the ‘internal’ and direct emissions created by an organisation's business and processes such as business travel, office and building emissions, advertising production and decarbonising the media choices – where the advertising is displayed. None of this takes into account the emissions associated with the primary goal of the advertising industry, as the architects of desire: to stimulate consumption on behalf of clients. 

That’s where ‘advertised emissions’ comes in, it helps an organisation calculate the total emissions or impact of the additional consumption of products and services that are generated by the sales influenced by the advertising campaigns they create and deliver.

LBB> How are M&C Saatchi and OLIVER UK applying the six-point ‘Race to Zero’ framework to their advertising strategies?

Jonathan> OLIVER and M&C Saatchi are two climate pioneers trying to work out how to bridge the gap between the current realities of climate reporting and future planet-and people-positive ambitions. They have both taken slightly different approaches and are doing what they can from where they stand to shift the agenda and drive change, helping their clients and themselves build momentum in the right direction. Their actions are part of a continuous learning process. Between them they have applied the action areas across:

Strategy: Recognised their influence on emissions and evaluated client portfolios to disclose revenue from fossil fuel companies and high-carbon clients.

Due diligence and risk: Embedded climate considerations in their risk and due diligence processes for new clients, using a three-step check to evaluate climate commitments, emissions reduction, target setting, reporting, industry lobbying, and performance in human rights and DE&I.

Governance: As members of the Advertised Emissions Working Group, contributed to the development and refinement of the Advertised Emissions methodology.

Impact measurement and Reporting: Identified that the Advertised Emissions for their top 20 clients were around 42 times higher than their operational emissions.

Systems change: Encouraged peers to engage with Advertised Emissions by contributing to the Advertised Emissions Learning Experiment Case Study, promoting broader industry adoption. 

The report explains: “By engaging with the concept of Serviced Emissions, PSPs have the opportunity to direct services and actions towards activities that contribute to the reduction of or make the smallest possible contribution to GHG emissions, as well as scaling the systems needed for a resilient net-zero future.” - So how can professional advertisers balance climate ambition with commercial imperatives?

One of the critical learnings we shared is that change does not happen overnight, it is a journey of steps that will eventually culminate in a transformation towards a more resilient, sustainable business. The Serviced Emissions framework helps the professional service sector break down the transition into manageable, actionable steps that enable the organisation to consider long-term planning instead of considering tactical short-term strategies centred on creating short-term growth.  

It all starts with accepting our role in the climate crisis, understanding the clients we work with and the type of work we do,  doing the due diligence around the client portfolio and understanding the associated risks which in turn help inform future strategy and organisational alignment. 

The UK’s low carbon and renewable energy economy is already worth more than £200 billion, almost four times the size of the country's manufacturing sector. And growing. To contribute to the transition and reap the commercial benefits, leading advertising companies will actively power-down their work that promotes high-carbon lifestyles and train up to help companies deliver brands and experiences that embed low-carbon lifestyles.  It is a choice whether you want to lead or follow in the inevitable transformation of the economy. Considering your Advertised Emissions is a vital lens to have the necessary conversations.

LBB> Does the report rule out working with known contributors to the climate crisis? Is there ever a scenario where an advertiser can or should work with one, for example, if they launch a ‘green’ arm of their business?

Jonathan> This is a choice. If you want to commit to reducing your holistic climate impact and in doing so, your Advertised Emissions, you will inevitably need to switch your output from promoting high-carbon behaviours to low-carbon alternatives. The window of acceptability of working with high-carbon businesses that launch a ‘green arm’ is closing fast, e.g. a fossil fuel company that rolls out EV charging points, but still commits to expanding oil and gas extraction. In our report we quote ClientEarth lawyer and greenwashing expert, Johnny White: “The requirement to substantiate environmental claims with environmental evidence makes high-carbon advertising a legal red zone”. Regulators are starting to look at the entire scope of a client's business, so if an organisation promotes its sustainability credentials but only part of the business model aligns with necessary climate commitments it will come with consequences.

LBB> What role did the concept of greenwashing play when researching and comprising the report?

Jonathan> Greenwashing is a critical issue that all advertisers and marketers must understand, ensuring that the claims made in their creative output accurately reflect the actions of the brand. However, the issue of serviced and advertised emissions goes even deeper. It’s about the overall contribution you want to make as an advertising organisation—as an architect of desire—towards addressing our climate and ecological emergency. How can we use our skills, talent, and influence to drive the behaviour changes needed in society? How do you reflect this in your ambition, strategy, vision, governance, client mix, and how do you measure progress? When these elements are aligned, greenwashing becomes less of a risk, as your output will naturally be more aligned with a sustainable future.

LBB> What do you see as the next steps required to scale adoption of the ‘Serviced Emissions’ concept across industries?

Jonathan> We believe that radical collaboration across and within industries will help drive the momentum around Serviced Emissions. We have learned so much and have been inspired by the experiences of the humans behind Financed Emissions on our journey to launch Advertised Emissions. We believe a concerted effort and sharing of insights and knowledge as they emerge through case studies and cross-collaboration sessions will move the conversation forward. 

Another critical element is taking the first step, the Serviced Emissions approach is grounded in continuous improvement, we encourage individuals and organisations to take the first step and do what they can from where they stand. 

LBB> What has the reaction to the case study been like so far? 

Jonathan> We launched the case study at New York Climate Week alongside Race to Zero’s Professional Service Providers roundtable, bringing together leaders from various sectors. The response was overwhelmingly positive—many were both impressed and inspired by the progress and leadership shown by advertising. Now, they’re eager to apply the learnings within their own industries.

As with any report or framework, the challenge isn’t just in developing strategy, but in turning that thinking into action. Within advertising, professionals are expressing their gratitude that OLIVER and M&C Saatchi have paved the way. We’ve heard from sustainability leads to strategists to CEOs who’ve read the case study and shared their excitement and relief, that this is the level of climate action we need to start embedding to achieve meaningful progress and it’s actually possible.

LBB> What kind of advice do you have for other advertisers that want to start somewhere but are maybe too cautious to do so?

Pamela Noakes, M&C Saatchi> The first step in addressing advertised and serviced emissions is to use that data to inform your internal strategy. For now, it’s important to note that there’s currently no requirement to share these findings publicly, which means you can focus on learning and adapting without external pressure. Climate-related risks are rising, whether it's the risk of unintentionally greenwashing or being slow to adopt sustainable practices. In today’s landscape, no client strategy should be developed without accounting for these risks. With that in mind, the biggest hurdle is just getting off the starting blocks. 

Lucy Usher> To Pam’s point, this allows you to improve your internal long-term strategy before you need to react to external pressures. So a great first step is to create space for this conversation internally with relevant leaders, sharing key points on Advertised Emissions and getting everyone comfortable with the language to talk about this in a nuanced, grown-up way. Once you have a group of leaders who are well-informed with robust, up to date information on the changing landscape, then a first attempt at calculating the current impact of your client portfolio will be necessary business information to plan the way ahead.