The World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media (“GARM”) and Ad Net Zero have collaborated to produce a ‘Global Media Sustainability Framework’ with the goal of helping “every advertiser and their partners understand and take positive action to reduce the carbon impact of their media plans”.

According to the press release, the Framework is “a series of voluntary industry standards to improve consistent, comparable measurement of greenhouse gas emissions from digital, television, print, audio, outdoor, and cinema channels” and includes tools to collect emissions data from companies “throughout the media supply chain”.

In order to develop what is hoped to be the first consistent framework that enjoys support across the industry, six cross-industry working groups have produced a set of voluntary standards to help reduce inconsistencies in approaches to measurement, data and reporting. At this stage, the first versions of ‘formulae’ have been released for TV, digital, and OOH (out of home) advertising. Radio, print, and cinema will follow in due course.

The Framework also includes: (1) a ‘common enterprise level data request form’ for more efficient data collection of company data from media sellers (2) a disclosure form for the industry to “understand the scope, data rigour and scientific validation of media sustainability solutions providers”; and (3) a voluntary monitoring template to help GARM and Ad Net Zero measure the effectiveness of the frameworks.

GARM and Ad Net Zero also outline how those in the advertising industry can play a role in the success of the Framework, such as checking that partners who measure greenhouse gas emissions are using the Framework, making greenhouse gas emissions “a consideration for all media plans”, and ensuring that media owners supply the requested data in as much granularity as possible so as to improve the quality of data.

Commenting on the launch of the Framework, Phil Smith, Director General of The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), said “We’re delighted to see the fruits of this massive collaboration and support the framework. Advertisers have been clear about the need for rigour and consistency in the measurement that will help them reduce their emissions from media. This is a major step forward.”

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