Questions to ask your suppliers about carbon emissions
Influencing agencies and suppliers to take action on their carbon emissions is the next logical step for the marketing department of a company that is taking climate change seriously.
Brands cannot claim to be reducing the overall carbon emissions of their products, if a key supplier is increasing its output hand over fist.
As a holder of the Carbon Reduction Label, Walkers has worked closely with its suppliers to reduce the footprint of its crisps. However a spokeswoman for the company confirms that it has yet to fully apply the thinking to its rostered marketing agencies.
The COI, as is to be expected from a public sector organisation, has led the way in encouraging its agencies to reduce carbon emissions.
Andrew Prince, publications director at the COI, says: ‘COI took the view that by building sustainability into procurement – from start to finish – that we could be as best prepared, as flexible and as proactive as possible to influencing and managing what we had responsibility for buying.’
As well as the benefits to the environment, Prince says the process has had a positive effect on all those involved. ‘It’s a topic that staff can really get enthusiastic about – they can see the link to themselves directly and feel good about it,’ he says.
While building sustainability into existing agency relationships is a big cultural shift for a marketing department, there are signs this is happening when it is time to make a new appointment.
A spokeswoman for BMW, which aims to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions to 30% below 2006 levels by 2012, says: ‘It’s something they take into account. Even if it’s not the over-riding factor it could be the tipping point if there were little difference between agencies.’
WCRS new business director Matt Ross says that over the last 18 months he has witnessed an increase in marketers asking about agencies’ sustainability policies, in particular at the request for information stage.
‘Clients need to know at an early stage of selection that a prospective agency has matching values. If this in itself encourages agencies without a sustainability policy to develop one, it can only be a good thing. However, I’d hope agencies develop these policies for the right reasons over and above as a marketing tool,’ he adds.
While carbon management initiatives will on the whole be led by the environment managers, marketers should not underestimate the valuable role they can play in getting the organisations they work with to do their bit.
