Vodafone has claimed it has reduced the carbon footprint of its media and advertising services by a third in a year since the introduction of its global guidelines to mitigate emissions.
The Vodafone Sustainable Media Program, which was launched in October 2022, is run in partnership with dentsu and carbon management software Cozero. As part of the program, the brand developed its own framework for measuring its media carbon footprint along with a reduction plan to cut emissions.
It measured the climate impact of its media activities in 13 markets across 13 channels in 2023, including cinema, TV, magazines, newspapers, billboards and digital channels including social, video and search. The markets evaluated were Germany, the UK, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Albania, Czechia, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Spain and Egypt.
The model to measure the greenhouse gas footprint was developed by Cozero. It calculated emissions based on variables such as the size of the print ad or billboard, number of impressions or audience reached, amount of paper used, duration of display and electricity used.
Vodafone's Sustainable Media Guidelines include recommendations such as using shorter videos on-screen to cut energy use or prioritizing suppliers committed to sustainability for its out-of-home work.
Anna Campbell, global managing director of Carat and client president on the Vodafone account, said: "We knew from the start that this project would be a challenge. There were no established industry standards for measuring media carbon footprints. But that didn't deter us. We embraced the challenge, working hand-in-hand with Vodafone to create a pioneering global framework that covers every market and every media channel.
“Dentsu and Vodafone mapped out every single step a digital ad takes, from storage to display. It was a massive undertaking, but meticulous measurement was the key to unlocking real impact. This is just the beginning. Dentsu and Vodafone are committed to continuously innovating and driving even deeper emission reductions. We believe that a sustainable future for media is not just possible, it's imperative."
The program supports the brand’s ambition to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040.
Vodafone also won the Sustainability Best Practice Award at Campaign’s Ad Net Zero Awards for its program in November last year.
Anne Stilling, global director of brand and media at Vodafone, said: “Vodafone has ambitious targets to achieve net zero across its entire value chain by 2040. Our industry-leading Sustainable Media Program will play a key role in mitigating our Scope 3 emissions through ongoing benchmarking and improving the carbon impact of our advertising and media activities. By partnering with organizations like the World Federation of Advertisers to share our experience, Vodafone can also help the wider advertising industry develop and implement consistent standards to measure and reduce media carbon footprints.”
This article first appeared in Campaign on 08/01/25.
