Dentsu adds carbon emissions data and modelling to global planning tools

Dentsu will introduce new carbon optimisation and planning functionality for all of its global teams in 2023.

The new capability integrates carbon emissions data into Dentsu’s proprietary Consumer Connection System (CCS) Planner system which will allow brands to set carbon targets for campaigns and model different scenarios to find the optimal impact, reach and carbon levels before any resources or third parties are involved.

The media carbon data is available at impression level and Dentsu’s teams globally will be able to model carbon impacts along with other traditional measures like reach, consideration, and purchase intent for a full channel mix.

Media agencies Carat, iProspect and Dentsu X teams use Dentsu’s proprietary media carbon calculators for both local and global campaigns. The company’s goal is to reduce the emissions associated with its media supply chain by 46% by 2030.

Anna Lungley, global chief sustainability officer for Dentsu International, said: “To do this, we need to go beyond simple spend based calculation to process based methods which highlight emissions hotspots.”

This is the latest step in Dentsu’s decarbonisation plan which started in 2019 with a collaboration with the University of Bristol, and media owners including the BBC, Sky, Netflix and ITV to map the digital media ecosystem and create a greenhouse gas calculator.

Dentsu has created its own digital media carbon calculator for clients in 2021 and expanded this in to cross channel media carbon calculation to show the impact of digital, print, TV, radio, and out-of-home channels.