From idea to industry standard

Measure

Dec 31

The story of Advertised Emissions so far

Some ideas arrive fully formed. Advertised Emissions was not one of them. It started as a question: if the finance sector can measure the emissions generated by the companies it invests in, why can't advertising measure the emissions generated by the consumption it creates?

That question had an uncomfortable answer. It couldn't, because nobody had built the tools to do it yet.

So we did.

In 2021, we published our first flagship report, Advertised Emissions: The Carbon Emissions Generated by UK Advertising, in collaboration with econometrics agency Magic Numbers. For the first time, there was a number attached to the industry's blind spot.
That number was 186 million tonnes of CO2e for 2019 alone. It was a lot to sit with.
A year on, we published The Temperature Check as a follow-up, and the picture had not improved. UK Advertised Emissions reached 208 million tonnes CO2e in 2022, up 11% from 2019 and adding 32% to the carbon footprint of every UK resident.
That same year, something significant happened. The UN's Race to Zero campaign recognised Advertised Emissions as a Leadership Practice. An idea that had started in a room of people asking uncomfortable questions was now part of the world's largest net-zero alliance.
At COP28, a related concept was introduced that would change the framing entirely. Serviced Emissions, developed by Oxford Net Zero and Race to Zero, positioned advertising alongside law, consulting, and finance as sectors that carry responsibility not just for their own operational emissions, but for the emissions their work makes possible.
Advertising was no longer a special case. It was part of a sector-wide reckoning.
Knowing something should be measured and actually measuring it are very different things. In 2024, two pioneering agencies showed that the gap between those two positions could be closed.
At New York Climate Week, they showcased their transition using the Serviced Emissions model in practice. Alongside this, we published Advertising's Evolutionary Moment: How to turn climate ambition into impact, a report making the case that measurement was no longer a future aspiration but a present-day possibility.
This year, the work moved into a new phase. Purpose Disruptors began collaborating with the University of Portsmouth on a government-backed academic partnership, funded by UKRI Innovate UK, to refine and evolve the Advertised Emissions methodology into something robust enough to become a global standard.
We also launched Beyond the Chaos: Ahead of the Curve. How Smart Organisations are De-Risking in Uncertain Times to over 200 industry professionals. The conversation had grown from a provocation into a movement.
The work continues. The methodology is being tested, refined, and built out with the Advertised Emissions Working Group, bringing together agencies, media owners, management consultancies, and climate experts. The goal remains the same as it always was: accountability that is rigorous enough to be required, not just admired.
We are not there yet. But we know the direction, and we are not travelling alone.