The IPA has announced the forthcoming launch of the first industry-commissioned carbon emissions calculator for the media supply chain, developed in line with Ad Net Zero’s Global Media Sustainability Framework (GMSF). The tool will help agencies and their clients calculate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their media campaigns.
By adhering to the GMSF, the calculator will comply with internationally recognised sustainability standards, including the IPCC framework and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. It will also directly support Action 3 of the Ad Net Zero Action Plan, which aims to cut emissions across media planning, buying, and distribution.
The calculator is being developed in collaboration with technical partner Good-Loop, appointed by the IPA following a comprehensive selection process. Good-Loop will deliver a transparent, standardised, and actionable approach to tracking and reducing the environmental footprint of media activity.
Key benefits of the calculator will include:
- Comprehensive calculation: It will provide agencies and advertisers with a reliable, consistent method for calculating the carbon emissions of their media campaigns, across the six main media channels – TV, digital, print, audio, outdoor and cinema.
- Industry-wide standardisation: It will promote consistent, comparable emissions tracking across the advertising media ecosystem, ensuring alignment with international sustainability standards and best practices.
- Support for Ad Net Zero goals: It will further empower the advertising industry to lead responsible action with clients in line with global climate commitments, supporting the transition to net-zero emissions.
- Transparency and accountability: It will support brands in demonstrating their commitment to sustainability, providing verifiable data to ensure authenticity in eco-friendly claims.
The tool, which will succeed the current IPA Media Carbon Calculator (which is non-GMSF-aligned), is currently in development and will enter its pilot phase before the end of 2025, with participation from 14 IPA Media Climate Charter agencies. These agencies are Bountiful Cow, Bray Leino, december19, IMA, IPG Mediabrands (Initiative, Rapport and UM), Medialab, Omnicom Media Group (Hearts & Science, MG OMD, OMD, PHD), Talon and the7stars.
The calculator will be rolled out to additional Charter-supporting agencies throughout 2026, allowing more players in the media landscape to adopt GMSF-compliant sustainable practices and drive progress toward global climate goals.
In addition, the IPA and Ad Net Zero will be kicking off an international coalition for industry-operated calculator development, welcoming ad industry bodies from other markets to join and help develop geographically-dedicated parallels of the IPA calculator.
Says Nigel Gwilliam, Director of Media Affairs, IPA:
“Adherence to the GMSF ensures that the new IPA media carbon calculator will be robust, credible, widely usable and aligned with the direction the industry is heading. It’s not just a technical nicety, it underpins trust, enables comparability, and supports regulation and climate commitments. Crucially, it helps the industry act meaningfully rather than just symbolically.”
Says Jack Monaghan, Chair of the IPA Media Climate Group and Insight and Sustainability Director, RapportWW:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Good-Loop on this pioneering new initiative. With increasing pressure for businesses to become more sustainable, this tool will offer agencies and their advertisers the ability to quantify a campaign’s carbon footprint and apply informed, responsible, data-driven decisions when evaluating their effort to achieve net zero.”
Says Amy Williams, Founder & CEO, Good-Loop:
“Good-Loop’s role in all of this is to quite simply take the equations and assumptions outlined in the GMSF – and turn them into a tool that is really easy for IPA members to integrate into their everyday. I’m proud to say that there will be no added ‘secret sauce’ in the methodology – this project is about making media decarbonisation standardised, transparent and accessible to everyone. We’re focused on usability, where our Easy Ingestion Technology ensures that each agency can upload their data in whatever format it currently exists, and get the exact same result.”
Says Alessandra Bellini, UK Chair, Ad Net Zero:
“It’s brilliant to see the IPA and its members leading the way in the work to turn the Global Media Sustainability Framework into a practical, everyday tool for media planners and buyers. It will turn principles into action, help advertisers be truly accountable for the emissions from their media plans, enable all involved to make well-informed decisions that lead to reductions and stimulate further competition to provide the most sustainable and effective advertising choices from across the media landscape.”