Non-profit organisation Purpose Disruptors and the University of Portsmouth have formed a government-backed partnership to help measure and improve sustainability in advertising.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership, which is jointly funded by the UK’s national innovation agency and Purpose Disruptors, will help develop and strengthen Purpose Disruptors Advertised Emissions measurement framework.
The framework looks at how media owners, agencies and brands can go beyond their operational emissions to measure and mitigate the environmental impact of emissions caused as a result of advertising-driven consumption.
The new funding will provide a full-time academic role to work within the advertising industry to test, evolve and embed methodology across all areas of the advertising ecosystem.
The University of Portsmouth’s senior lecturer in marketing Dr Karen Middleton, who’s team will be on board said the collaboration “represents a unique opportunity to leverage academic expertise and industry insights to drive transformative change in marketing sustainability”.
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The partnership aims to transform advertising emissions into a globally recognised standard so that companies can have clear guidelines for reducing their carbon footprint, differentiate themselves by adopting the framework and promote transparency for consumers.
It builds on the landmark methodology created by Purpose Disruptors and Econometrics agency Magic Numbers, which in 2022 calculated that the UK’s advertised emissions were 208 million tonnes of CO2e (or 56 coal-fired power stations running for a year).
Innovate UK Business Connect spokespersoon Steve Woodhouse said: “I was delighted to support this project on behalf of Innovate UK – the ambition for the collaboration has huge contemporary and environmental importance”.
“The KTP affords access to world-class research expertise at the University of Portsmouth, enabling Purpose Disruptors to establish a universally accepted metrics correlating the interrelationship of societal consumerism with climate exigencies.”
Purpose Disruptors co-founder Jonathan Wise said: “Advertised emissions is an innovative idea that has already been adopted by advertising agencies who want to lead on sustainability.”
“This partnership will inject academic rigour into the methodology to enable mainstream adoption.”
He added that the UK government’s innovation agency’s investment in Purpose Disruptors partnership with the University of Portsmouth helps reduce emissions and align measurements across the sector.
