Dentsu

Carbon per million dollars of revenue. The legacy industry-standard reference (CDP, MSCI). Useful for cross-sector context, but distorted by margin — high-margin firms appear artificially efficient. Read alongside the operational and asset intensities for the full picture.

OpEx (operating expenditure) is the running cost of the business — staff, services, energy, materials. This shows how carbon-intensive operations are per million dollars of spend. Removes the margin distortion that revenue-based ratios introduce.

EVIC (Enterprise Value Including Cash) is the firm's total capital footprint — equity + debt + cash + minority interest. The EU's standard intensity measure (SFDR PAI 3) — answers: how much carbon does each million of capital deployed in this business produce?

PP&E (Property, Plant & Equipment) plus leased real-estate assets is the firm's physical infrastructure on the balance sheet. This shows the carbon intensity of that physical footprint — uses Scope 1+2+3 for consistency with the other headline intensities. Surfaces stranded-asset risk for asset-heavy firms.

Carbon per FTE (full-time-equivalent employee) — the diagnostic measure for people-leveraged businesses where headcount, not capital, drives delivery. Captures the office, energy and travel footprint per person.

• · berkeley_voluntary_registry
• · gold_standard
• · RE100

Dentsu has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2030, aligned with the RE100 definition (electricity-only). In 2024, the renewable energy rate reached 79.5%, up sharply from 53.7% in 2023, driven significantly by signing a renewable energy supply contract for the Dentsu Soken Inc. head office in Shinagawa (the second-largest Japan office by power consumption) in October 2024. Renewable energy usage rose to 52,141 MWh in 2024 from 35,565 MWh in 2023.

Consistent with SBTi guidance, dentsu may neutralize residual, hard-to-abate emissions (up to 10%) only after achieving a 90% reduction in absolute emissions. The Group does not currently offset annual GHG emissions but recognizes that achieving long-term goals by 2040 will likely require neutralizing residual emissions through credible and verifiable GHG removal projects. Future participation in voluntary carbon markets will meet the highest environmental and social standards.

• Business travel reduction

  Business travel accounts for ~15% of the 2019 Scope 3 baseline and is one of three near-term focus areas of the SBTi target. Between 2019 and 2024, Scope 3 emissions fell 28%, largely attributed to reductions in business travel and supply chain emissions. Travel-related categories (air, rail, ground) are tracked using spend-based methodology with USEEIO and Japan MoE factors.

• Employee commuting (hybrid working, survey-based tracking)

  Employee commuting represents ~13% of the 2019 Scope 3 baseline and is included in the 46.2% by-2030 near-term target. Emissions are calculated using employee survey data on commuting modes and distances outside Japan, and a spend-based methodology in Japan where commuting expenses are reimbursed.

• Office energy efficiency and footprint rationalisation

  Scope 1 emissions come from company cars, natural gas, and refrigerants; Scope 2 mainly from electricity, heating and steam (~20% of S2). Mitigation includes energy efficiency upgrades, office consolidation/rationalisation, switching to hybrid/electric vehicles in the fleet, and improving equipment and heating system efficiency. ISO 14001/50001 and BREEAM certifications obtained in key locations.

• Employee commuting (including remote work)

  Scope 3 Category 7 (employee commuting) is one of three priority Scope 3 categories under the SBTi-validated near-term target. 2024 emissions were 53,767 tCO2e, slightly down from 58,601 tCO2e in 2023.

• Office energy efficiency & renewable procurement

  Major office renewable energy procurement is the primary lever for Scope 1+2 reductions, which have fallen 65.1% from 2019 baseline. Signed renewable energy supply contract for Dentsu Soken HQ in Shinagawa (second-largest Japan office by consumption) in October 2024.

• Company car fleet electrification

  Dentsu is transitioning company car fleets to hybrid and electric vehicles, a key driver of the Scope 1+2 (market-based) reduction of 46.2% vs the 2019 baseline.

• Office electricity sourcing (Tokyo HQ to 100% renewable)

  Switched the Dentsu Building in Shiodome, Tokyo to 100% renewable electricity sourcing, contributing materially to Scope 2 market-based reductions.

• Decarbonizing creative production (FACTORY ANZEN STUDIO)

  Dentsu Creative Cube opened two next-generation FACTORY ANZEN STUDIO photography studios in 2024 sourcing equivalent of 100% renewable energy, with a 90% recycling rate target by 2025 (100% long-term ambition) and use of dentsu's proprietary Carbon Calculator for Movie Production. One studio uses virtual production (LED-panel backgrounds) to cut emissions from set disposal and location shoots.

• Purchased goods & services supplier engagement

  Purchased goods and services account for ~53% of the 2019 Scope 3 baseline — the largest category and a near-term target focus. Dentsu is enhancing its global value chain engagement strategy with scalable high-impact interventions, strategic partnerships, supplier engagement programs, capacity-building, and digital platforms for supplier data collection and emissions tracking. Spend-based methodology using USEEIO and Japan MoE factors.

• Scope 3 Category 15 investee engagement

  Investments represent ~8% of dentsu's Scope 3 baseline. Most Japan investee emissions use investee-specific data; other regions use revenue-based methodologies. A critical action leading to 2030 is engaging investee companies to collect actual Scope 1 and 2 data, with target-setting in line with climate science, and embedding climate considerations into acquisitions and minority investments.

• Media & advertising carbon calculators (DIMPACT, AdGreen, Dentsu Digital Media Calculator)

  Since 2019 dentsu has collaborated with DIMPACT to model digital media GHG emissions and was a 2021 founding member of AdGreen. The proprietary Dentsu Digital Media Calculator was expanded in 2023 to cover full-service, all-channel media carbon calculations across Europe and Canada. Tools will be integrated into the CCS planning platform to drive supplier and client decarbonisation across the value chain.

• Purchased goods and services supply chain

  Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services) is the largest emission category and one of three priority Scope 3 categories under the SBTi-validated near-term target. 2024 emissions decreased to 222,048 tCO2e, down from 264,790 tCO2e in 2023 and 316,082 tCO2e in 2021, driven largely by reductions in International business procurement. Includes considerations around GHG emissions, nature, and related stakeholders in procurement policies.

• Client services - sustainability solutions

  Dentsu develops client-facing services that drive decarbonisation including the Carbon Calculator for Movie Production (used on NHK Taiga drama and other productions to confirm carbon reductions from virtual production), Butterfly Check for nature-related impact measurement, and City Flora for biodiversity-positive urban development.

• Supplier engagement on Scope 3 Cat 1 purchased goods & services

  Scope 3 accounts for over 95% of total emissions, with Cat 1 (Purchased Goods and Services) the dominant driver of the 7.8% increase in total emissions vs baseline. In 2024 dentsu is launching a Group-wide Procurement Management Project to obtain higher-quality supplier data and reduce supply chain emissions.

• Decarbonization Initiative for Marketing (industry collaboration)

  In 2023 dentsu launched the Decarbonization Initiative for Marketing in Japan, with an MOU with UK-based AdGreen, to drive GHG reductions across marketing communications supply chains while staying compatible with global standards.

• Sustainable consumer choice enablement (1 billion by 2030)

  Dentsu's strategic lever leverages its marketing reach to enable 1 billion people to make more sustainable choices by 2030 — using business transformation and marketing services for clients to drive consumer behaviour change toward low-carbon options.