Sustainability: Promoting positive change

By George Porteous

Like many companies, AAR has been undergoing our own transformation to ensure we can meet the current and future needs of our agency and brand partners. As part of this, we have been examining our approach to sustainability, the importance of which is widely recognised across society, business and our own marketing and communications industry.

There are two specific actions we are taking:

1. Getting our own house in order

Following a carbon audit conducted by Green Element and subsequent improvements, including a move to our new serviced offices powered by 100% renewable energy, we are pleased to report that as of March 2022, AAR has been a net zero carbon emitter.

2 . Agency sustainability data

We believe we have a role to help promote positive change in our pitch consultancy. Going forward we will ask for data on the agency’s sustainability credentials that will inform what has become an increasingly important element of clients’ decision-making criteria. To date AAR has been collecting this data informally but has now adopted the Advertising Association’s Ad Net Zero measures to add to its agency partner database, including CO2 emissions, ESG initiatives and sustainable business travel policies as key criteria. This will add another lens through which brands can consider potential agency partners alongside existing considerations such as relevant expertise, culture, capability, chemistry, and experience.

We are in the process of collating data from various agencies on these metrics. Thank you to those who are supplying their data for supporting this initiative and thank you in advance for your help. ●