In a first for WA, Water Corporation reduces the environmental impact of its advertising through GroupM Australia’s carbon offset program

In July this year, WPP’s GroupM launched its Digital Sustainability Initiative in Australia to help advertisers measure, offset and reduce the carbon impact of digital media. Through this partnership and as a WPP company, The Brand Agency now offers carbon-offsetting and climate-positive activities across display and online video advertising.

Water Corporation is the first Brand Agency client, as well as the first in Western Australia, to utilise this initiative, with the outcome of reducing the environmental impact of its media spend.

By implementing GroupM’s Digital Sustainability Initiative for its newly launched Net Zero campaign, Water Corporation has been able to accurately measure campaign carbon emissions and offset these by purchasing Gold Standard Carbon Offset Credits.

Carbon Offsets are a short-term solution to help advertisers mitigate what they can’t remove, and Water Corporation will also be able to work with GroupM and Wavemaker to reduce the environmental impact of future campaigns by optimising towards less energy intensive formats and domains without negatively impacting performance.

Angela Naaykens, Head of Media and Analytics at The Brand Agency, and General Manager of Wavemaker Perth, said: “Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation, and it’s critical we are analysing the environmental impact at every stage of the media supply chain. Our partnership with purpose-led ad platform, Good-Loop, empowers our team and clients with the information to make informed buying decisions and offset unavoidable emissions. Carbon reduction is the ultimate goal and while there is still a long way to go, this is a step in the right direction.”

Water Corporation’s ‘Think Climate Change. Be Waterwise’ campaign acknowledges that as the climate changes, they are migrating towards more rainfall-independent water sources such as desalination, which will be powered by renewable energy. This forms part of Water Corporations’ pathway towards its net-zero target by 2035 for all of their operations.

Kristina Green, Water Corporation Marketing and Digital Manager, said: “We are excited to be part of this initiative. It aligns well with our own Net Zero aspirations and proves we’re backing up what we say in our advertising with real action.”

In the first three weeks of the campaign, Water Corporation has offset the equivalent of more than 270kg of carbon dioxide. This equates to over 1,000km by car, which has been carbon offset through Carbon Credits.

GroupM’s Digital Sustainability Initiative in Australia is powered by Good-Loop’s Green Ad-Tag and is part of a wider sustainability effort and global commitment to rapid decarbonisation of the world’s media supply chain.

Click here for more information on Carbon Decarbonisation.