3.2.1 Your operations as a business

If you’re working with clients and encouraging them to make more sustainable choices in their campaigns, then your credibility will increase if you do that from a ‘clean’ house. The operations of your business leave a footprint on the environment, so it’s important to understand what that is and take steps to reduce it.

Energy use in the office

The energy you consume in your offices is one of the quick wins when it comes to reducing emissions and saving you money.

Recommendation

The focus here is two-fold:

• The amount of energy you consume – use your energy bills to understand energy usage and put in place energy-saving policies. For a small office, simply ensuring you have turned off the lights and computers overnight and switching to energy-saving lightbulbs can make a surprising difference to your overall energy consumption. The big bonus here is that reduced consumption leads to lower energy bills.
• The source of your energy (heating and electricity) – switch to a renewable energy tariff for heating and electricity where possible. If you own your own building, then it might be worth exploring the possibility of generating your own renewable energy e.g. by installing solar panels on the roof of your building. If your building is heated by gas then you may want to consider a move to an office that has electric heating (and better insulation).

We acknowledge that for agencies renting shared office space where energy is included in the rent, it can be much more difficult to calculate your energy use if energy bills are not itemised for tenants. If this applies to you then find out from your landlord if they have a renewable energy tariff in place and, if not, push them to do so (collaborate with other tenants in the building to collectively request this transfer).

Energy use at home

For hybrid workers, the energy they consume at home while working is part of your agency’s footprint. Consider incentivising employees to switch to renewable energy tariffs at home and/or educate employees as to why this is a positive move.

Business travel

Typically around 60% of an agency’s carbon emissions is from business travel [Source: Ad Net Zero]. There’s no getting away from the fact that air travel is the most carbon-intensive activity, with business plane travel generating 2.6 to 4.3 times more emissions than economy plane travel [Source: Co2 Emissions From Commercial Aviation: 2013, 2018, And 2019, the International Council On Clean Transportation].

Recommendation

There’s lots you can do to reduce business travel emissions – the links below will provide further insights, but at a top line:

• have a clear policy in place to determine if the travel is really needed, or whether the meeting/event can be conducted virtually.
• if travel is necessary, take the lowest carbon emission option that is practical.
• if plane travel is necessary, take economy tickets rather than business.
• travel smarter – if you have several clients in a similar geographical area then be efficient with your time – organise meetings with different clients during the same trip so you have longer, but less frequent trips.

The products and services you buy

A full examination of all the products and services you might procure as an agency is beyond the scope of this document (you will find detailed tips in the links below), but a few top level items to consider:

Who you bank with – review the investment policies of the banks you use. Many of the bigger high street banks are still investing in fossil fuel projects that are directly contributing to climate change. Who you bank with (and how they use your money) is one of the biggest hidden impacts for any business. There are some great ethical business bank accounts available – see Ethical Business Banking.

Pension provider – does your pension provider present an ESG or impact fund as the default option for your employees? Where and how an individual invests their money can be the most impactful change that anyone can make (more than stopping flying or turning vegan) so as a business we would encourage you to provide sustainable investment options and make it as easy as possible for your employees to choose an impact-led option.

Other products and services – consider policies on where you buy your other products and services from – this might range from vegan-only food options at events, to no single-use plastic vending machines in the office, to buying as many services as you can from B Corps or Social Enterprises (businesses that have committed to having a positive environmental or social impact).

Local community engagement

Consider your impact in your local community – perhaps team up with local environmental or nature-based charities that could benefit from your core skills. Team-building-type volunteering in the community is a good way to bring sustainability to life for your colleagues. You can also have a big impact if you use your core skills as an agency to support a local group or charity to create and communicate their campaign messaging.

Suggested resources

The resources below will help guide you through the process of understanding the key considerations, measuring your baseline, setting targets and the actions you can take to reduce the environmental impact from your operations.

• Ad Net Zero – Step 1 – provides an overview of what you need to be thinking about as an agency and steps on how to set a target for carbon emission reduction.
• B Corp BIA – free impact assessment that you can use to ascertain where you are as a business in terms of your operations – will provide lots of useful ideas for you to make improvements.
• Future Fit Benchmark – assessment framework covering the sustainability topics that you need to consider and provides guidance on targets and KPIs to track against.
• ISO Net Zero Guidelines – provide a common reference for collective efforts, offering a global basis for harmonising, understanding and planning for net zero.
• IPA Media Climate Charter – created by agency members of the IPA Media Futures Group, the IPA Media Climate Charter provides media agencies with the tools and resources to support their transition to a zero-carbon future. This includes a carbon calculator for media planners to calculate emissions for media advertising.
• SME Climate Hub – a global initiative that aims to mainstream climate action in the small to medium sized business community, and enable SMEs to build resilient businesses for the Various guides and tools to take you through the process of measurement, setting targets, taking action, communicating with employees, etc.
• Small99 – for micro and small businesses this is a great resource of support, tools and guidance to reach net zero, including an online carbon calculator for small organisations.
• Ethical Business Banking – article from Ethical Consumer on small business accounts in the UK.
• A guide to energy efficiency in the workplace – some simple tips on reducing energy consumption in the workplace from the energy-saving trust.