SECTORS / GICS-502020 / TRANSITIONS

Marketing Services · transition pathways

The recognised primary transition pathway for marketing services, plus the upstream sectors marketing services firms depend on for their own decarbonisation. A consulting firm cutting business travel still needs aviation to decarbonise; a REIT cutting tenant energy still needs the grid to clean up. These are the rate limiters.

Primary pathway

Ad Net Zero + SBTi 1.5°C corporate target

Ad Net Zero (originated UK, now global via WFA) is the industry-specific 5-action plan covering production, media, and reporting. Most networks layer this on top of SBTi general 1.5°C targets.

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Decarbonisation pathways

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Year readout

Hover the chart to read off Best / Realistic / Worst values at any year. Click to pin the readout.

2050 endpoint:
Best 0% · Worst 70%

Corporate Scope 1+2 absolute emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020 · Source: SBTi 1.5°C corporate criteria (4.2% YoY) · Race to Zero · BAU

Dependant pathways· 4

Upstream sectors marketing services firms rely on. The faster these decarbonise, the faster the firm can hit its own targets — even when it does everything in its control.

Aviation

Scope 3 · cat 6

Client visits, shoots, festivals (Cannes Lions especially). Travel intensity for marketing is comparable to consulting.

framework:IATA Fly Net Zero 2050, CORSIA

Decarbonisation pathways

Best0%

Realistic50%

Worst150%

Aviation CO2 (commercial) · % of 2019 absolute CO2 · base 2019
Source: IATA Fly Net Zero, ICAO LTAG, BAU (~3% pa growth)

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IT Hardware & Networking

Scope 3 · cat 11 + cat 2

Digital ad delivery infrastructure (CDNs, ad-tech, programmatic platforms) plus creative production hardware. Use-phase emissions of served ads scale with network energy intensity.

framework:SBTi ICT sector pathway, DIMPACT methodology

Decarbonisation pathways

Best15%

Realistic40%

Worst80%

ICT sector absolute emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020
Source: SBTi ICT 1.5°C pathway, BAU growth (~5% pa traffic)

Reference ↗View pathway →

Power & electricity

Scope 2 + Scope 3 · cat 11

Studios, offices, and the data centres serving programmatic ads — all rate-limited by grid decarbonisation.

framework:IEA Net Zero by 2050 (Power), Ember Global Electricity Review

Decarbonisation pathways

Best0%

Realistic15%

Worst60%

Grid carbon intensity · % of 2020 gCO2/kWh · base 2020
Source: IEA WEO 2023 — NZE / APS / STEPS

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Print & paper

Scope 3 · cat 1

Out-of-home, print campaigns, packaging. Paper supply chain decarbonisation depends on FLAG (forestry) progress.

framework:SBTi FLAG, Forest Stewardship Council

Decarbonisation pathways

Best10%

Realistic50%

Worst80%

Pulp + paper sector emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020
Source: SBTi FLAG, FSC, IEA Industry

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Decarbonisation by location — coming soon

Once we have HQ + operations location data per firm in this cohort, we'll overlay Ember grid-carbon-intensity data per country so you can see the geographical decarbonisation tailwind (or headwind) each firm is operating against.

Source: ember-energy.org · Global Electricity Review + per-country grid carbon intensity (gCO2/kWh).