Rapport, the global out-of-home media buying and planning agency arm of IPG Mediabrands, has become the first media agency to offset the carbon emissions of DOOH campaigns on behalf of clients.
Launching by offsetting all DOOH bought by the agency in Q1 2020, Rapport are seeking to address their responsibility as an agency, with regards to the impact of media on the environment.
Working closely with Green Element, IPG Mediabrands’ appointed environmental consultancy, Rapport looked to complement the OOH industry’s existing drive towards sustainability, particularly in the improvement of the efficiency of DOOH screens, as well as media owners’ transition towards fully renewable energy.
Jack Monaghan, Insights Manager at Rapport, who has led the project from its conception, told us “As part of the OOH ecosystem, we want to begin addressing our responsibility; complementing and building upon the comprehensive and progressive work already being done by our media owner partners. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one thing with regards to climate change, it is that even with a huge global reduction in emissions, we will still need to go even further to avoid a warming in excess of 2 degrees. We are now committed to becoming net zero as a company by 2021, and with all four of the biggest OOH media owners expected to use only renewable energy by the end of the year, it is our hope that this additional DOOH offsetting will actually go beyond and contribute to a net reduction in GHG concentrations.”
The objective of the initiative is to offset the GHG emissions arising through DOOH advertising, and provide a net positive contribution across activity for which renewable energy is already being utilised, through a range of projects that address issues close to the hearts of Rapport and their clients.
Using Rapport’s proprietary accountability and reporting tool, Rapportal, the media agency are able to offset all delivered activity across all DOOH screens down to the second, by quantifying the total number of DOOH Hours and calculating the total Electricity Consumption.
Total Consumption data is converted into CO2 Emissions using Green Element’s Corporate Emissions Calculator, and clients’ emissions are then offset by Rapport, through VCS Gold Standard Carbon Credits, supported by various NGOs, including WWF and Fairtrade.
Rapport’s clients are easily able to support emission reductions through investments in sustainable global projects, conducted and supported by NGOs and, in doing so, support global community projects that provide a wide range of additional benefits, in line with the UN Development Goals.
Chris Marjoram, Managing Director at Rapport, said “At Rapport, sustainability has always been an important consideration to us. I think if we were to find any positive impacts of the current Covid-19 tragedy, it is that it will force us to look at our behaviour – socially, culturally and environmentally – and put more of a spotlight on the things that we can do to make more of a positive impact on the world around us. Our carbon offsetting project may be a small step, but if others follow suit then it could make a bigger impact, which is what we hope to see.”
The scheme marks the launch of a long-term drive towards sustainability by Rapport, which will include the development of a similar methodology for traditional OOH, as well as their commitment to be carbon neutral by the start of 2021.
Rapport are also members of the media agency strand of the AA’s Climate Action Working Group, launched at the start of 2020, that aims to coordinate the collective response of the UK ad industry in tackling climate change.
Green Element is a forward thinking Environmental Management Consultancy with nearly 20 years of experience based in London and Edinburgh. Green Element provide Environmental Services to all types of organisations, from small SMEs up to large corporations. They deliver successful business strategies that emphasise the importance of environmental issues in the corporate world.
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