S4 Capital

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

S4Capital aims to increase renewable electricity from the current 42.1% (2024) toward 100% by 2040. The Group is actively exploring switches to renewable energy contracts for offices and is purchasing Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as interim solutions. Collaboration with landlords to switch to renewable energy is a key initiative, alongside consideration of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). The Group also targets a 100% electric vehicle fleet by 2030 and has begun deploying EV charging stations in the Netherlands and Germany.

The Group has committed to neutralising any residual emissions by 2040 with removals to reach net zero emissions, in compliance with the SBTi's net zero standard. The Group's S4 Forest carbon offsetting and reforestation initiative has planted a total of 506,322 trees over the last four years. No specific removal technology (DAC, BECCS etc.) is named; the approach is primarily nature-based reforestation as a bridging mechanism.

• Zero impact workspaces

  One of three stated ESG priorities. The Company focuses on reducing the environmental footprint of its workspaces as part of its 'responsibility to the world' pillar. Workspace footprint is shrinking as right-of-use assets fell from £34.7m to £27.3m.

• Sustainable work practices

  Second of three stated ESG priorities. Encompasses sustainable ways of working across the Group's global operations in 33 countries, supporting the firm's responsibility to the world pillar alongside transparent reporting and B Corp accountability.

• Office energy efficiency and facility consolidation

  The Group's primary Scope 1 and 2 reduction strategy centres on consolidating offices into energy-efficient locations, closing high-gas-consumption offices, and transitioning refrigerant systems. In 2024 Scope 1 emissions fell 53.2% largely due to office closures and a 55.3% reduction in natural gas use. The Group also reduced electricity consumption by 12.6% globally, and is developing action plans for remaining district-heating-dependent facilities. Switching to renewable energy contracts whenever possible is the stated ongoing approach.

• Business travel reduction via refined travel policy

  Business travel (land and air) is the second largest Scope 3 category at 4,733 tCO2e in 2024. The Group enforces a Group business travel and expenses policy that considers transport carbon intensity. Remote working and virtual workflows have been used to reduce on-site attendance — for example the AWS virtual broadcast truck reduced the number of on-site Monks by 75% and resulted in a 75% reduced carbon footprint. A decrease in headcount also contributed to lower travel emissions.

• Fleet electrification targeting 100% EV by 2030

  The Group is transitioning its leased company car fleet to electric vehicles, growing EV share to 80% of the fleet in 2024, contributing to a 60% reduction in mobile combustion emissions. EV charging stations have been installed at Netherlands and Germany facilities. The stated goal is a 100% electric vehicle fleet by 2030.

• Purchased goods and services emissions reduction through cost discipline

  Purchased goods and services is the dominant Scope 3 category at 10,918 tCO2e (54% of total). The Group reduced these emissions by 21.9% in 2024, broadly correlated with underlying cost reductions from headcount and discretionary cost discipline. Hosting usage reduction of 34.8% also contributed, reflecting commitment to greener digital products. Increased supplier engagement and data quality improvement are planned to meet the 25% Scope 3 reduction target by 2030.

• Remote/distributed broadcast workflows reduce travel emissions

  Remote broadcast workflow running on AWS allowed Monks to reduce its number of on-site employees by 75%, resulting in avoided carbon emissions related to air and ground travel. Distributed workflow means directors, producers, video and audio engineers, replay/graphics operators, editors and announcers can support events remotely from home.

• Purchased goods and services supply chain engagement

  Purchased goods and services is the dominant Scope 3 category at 13,977 tCO2e (54.5% of total GHG in 2023), reduced 12% vs 2022 through operational cost optimisation. The company is implementing sustainable procurement practices across the supply chain, with actual emissions data received from key suppliers including hosting/server emissions for the first time. A Sustainable Procurement Policy has been Board-approved and good progress on sustainable procurement measures and policies is a 2024 goal. The Group categorises direct costs more accurately into motion picture/sound recording, photographers, and independent artists categories.

• Office energy decarbonisation and natural gas phase-out

  A significant 78% decrease in natural gas emissions was achieved in 2023 (from 9,048 MWh to 2,038 MWh globally), reflecting reduced reliance on fossil fuels. The company is engaging landlords to switch to renewable electricity and reduce reliance on gas for heating, and targeting transition to less polluting refrigerant systems. Office footprint was also reduced 39% (from 69,875m² to 42,420m²) through real estate optimisation. Two UK offices are now gas-free with 100% renewable electricity. Refrigerant leakage management is an ongoing focus after first-time inclusion of combined entity data increased visibility.

• Employee commuting reduction via hybrid working and urban office locations

  Employee commuting emissions were 771 tCO2e in 2023, significantly lower than 2022 due to both improved data quality and sustained hybrid working. On average, 64% of employees worldwide either work from home, walk or cycle to work, resulting in negligible emissions. The company maintains locations in central areas to facilitate non-car commuting and has a return-to-office policy of at least three days per week. Initiatives to incentivise less carbon-intensive commuting include public transport, walking, cycling, and switching to hybrid or electric vehicles.

• Business travel reduction through policy enforcement and sustainable aviation fuel

  Business travel was the second-largest Scope 3 category in 2023 at 5,169 tCO2e (20.1% of total), up 88% vs 2022 as travel recovered post-COVID. The Group enforces a business travel and expenses policy that considers the carbon intensity of transport modes. Policies to reduce air travel for short distances have been implemented. The company recognises sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as a solution for unavoidable air travel and actively supports its use. Hotel emissions included in Scope 3 for the first time in 2023.

• Sustainable procurement — engaging suppliers on ESG standards

  S4Capital's Zero Impact Workspaces pillar includes 'aligning our procurement with sustainability standards and engaging with suppliers on sustainability.' The top 20 suppliers publicly disclose a CSR/ESG policy. This supply-chain engagement is an early-stage initiative without quantified scope 3 purchased goods emissions, but signals intent to address the largest unquantified scope 3 category for a marketing services firm.

• Business travel moderation post-covid

  S4Capital explicitly targets 'moderating travel expectations from pre-covid-19 levels, using environmentally-friendly travel options, and continuing to offset carbon emissions' as part of its Zero Impact Workspaces pillar. Business flights are tracked as a per-FTE emissions category and shown in the 2021 vs 2020 bar chart. The shift to hybrid working (approximately 40% home working) structurally reduces employee commuting and business travel compared to pre-pandemic levels.

• Office consolidation and workspace footprint reduction

  S4Capital accelerated consolidation of separate offices city-by-city during 2021, with existing leases terminated more quickly due to covid-19. New leases are planned at approximately 60% of prior capacity floor plate, assuming three days per week office occupancy. A Green Building checklist is being implemented for new and existing contracts. Office energy (electricity, natural gas, district heating) is the primary source of Scope 1 and 2 emissions for the business.

• Electric vehicle transition for company and leased cars

  The Zero Impact Workspaces strategy includes 'increasing the share of electric cars in our own and leased cars' as a stated action. Company cars are tracked as a per-FTE emissions category in the GHG inventory. No specific EV fleet percentage target is disclosed in this report.

• For Good client projects

  Across the Group, S4Capital supports communities through donated hours and delivers 'For Good' projects with clients that generate positive social, cultural or environmental impact, leveraging client engagements as a decarb/impact lever rather than a direct operational one.

• Employee commuting — encouraging lower-carbon modes

  Employee commuting emissions were 717 tCO2e in 2024 (down 7.0%). The Group plans to encourage employees to adopt lower-carbon commuting methods including public transport, walking, cycling and transitioning personal vehicles to hybrid or electric options. This is a stated priority within the transition plan, with enhanced employee commuting data collection planned.

• AI efficiency reducing computational and energy costs

  Through expansion of Monks.Flow into a broader technology application, smaller language models are combined with knowledge graphs, significantly reducing computational and energy costs. The approach focuses on lean, impactful investments in AI technology rather than energy-intensive large models.

• Supplier (big tech) net zero dependency

  Monks acknowledges it is not the prime mover in AI emissions since they work with tools provided by third parties (AWS, Google, Nvidia). The firm notes big tech companies have their own net zero targets and face challenges cutting emissions amid surging AI demand. Monks emphasises understanding the impact of its suppliers.

• Sustainable digital production for clients - software-defined broadcasting

  S4Capital developed software-defined production workflows using AWS cloud-hybrid infrastructure that avoids GHG emissions commonly associated with live broadcast workflows. This approach slashes costs from traditional broadcast set-ups by an estimated 50% or more and is powered by 95%+ renewable energy, eliminating travel-related emissions from live productions. The company received a Sustainability in Leadership award at the NAB Show for this innovation. The Group also aims to reduce emissions from digital products and shoots wherever possible, and seeks to integrate sustainability solutions more systematically into client work with a target of 10% of revenue from Purpose-driven client projects by 2040.

• Sustainable Work Manifesto — reducing emissions of client digital productions

  In 2021 S4Capital developed a Sustainable Work Manifesto to integrate sustainable solutions into client project delivery. It covers materials, business flights, and end products — including mobile-first production and wi-fi-only content delivery to reduce end-consumer energy use. The Green Production Manifesto for sustainable film production covers props, waste, food, and studio design. The company aims to offer clients the ability to offset their digital production emissions via S4 Forest. SDG 9.4 target is to reduce CO2 per unit of value added.