CARBON REDUCTION PLAN 2022

Quiet Storm’s purpose is to positively transform businesses, lives and society through creativity. This means playing a positive role in the world we all share, and ensuring we’re reducing any negative impact that we’re having. That’s why we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint in the coming years.

Our Objectives:

As signatories of the Advertising Association’s Ad Net Zero commitment, we are aiming to reduce the emissions of our industry to net zero by 2030, 20 years ahead of the Paris Agreement target.

Planet Mark’s objective is a 5% year-on-year reduction in line with the 2050 net zero target of the Paris Agreement. This objective is something we would look to achieve at the minimum.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/paris-agreement

Our carbon footprint for 2020 (calculated by Planet Mark): 9.9 tCO2 (Please see report in the link for details)
https://quietstorm.egnyte.com/dl/dhQM3kQVcl

We are aware that our emissions in 2021 will see an increase due to returning to our office after pandemic.

Henceforth from 2022 our targets will be to reduce our emissions by 5% YOY, which will allow us to comfortably hit net zero before 2030.

The above figure does not include our travel emissions which we are currently auditing, once we have these figures, we will aim to reduce by 5% YOY in line with our general target.

We understand that one of our main factors to achieving this will be our landlord agreeing to switching to a renewable energy supplier, we aim to get this agreement by 2023.

Organisations that we have invested in to help us achieve carbon reduction:

Planet Mark- https://www.planetmark.com/
We have achieved Planet Mark 2021 business certification.
We are auditing our entire carbon footprint with PM, implementing all the changes they recommend to reduce our footprint and formulating a detailed reduction plan.

Ad Net Zero- https://adassoc.org.uk/ad-net-zero/
We have signed up to The Advertising Association’s Ad Net Zero commitment, and are working with them to ensure our industry reaches real net zero by 2030.

Ad Green- https://weareadgreen.org/
We use the AdGreen calculator to calculate the carbon emissions of all of our film shoots, and then use this data to minimize the carbon impact of our shoots and offset any emissions. Our entire agency has completed the Ad Green training and we have implemented all of their impact reduction recommendations.

Actionable steps we are taking:

Entire agency and office specific:

  • All Employees have completed AdGreen environmental awareness training in 2021, and this is now mandatory for all employees when they join the company
  • Formed an environmental steering group to ensure actions are being completed and progress is being made continuously
  • Changed our office lighting to LED
  • Zero to landfill waste disposal
  • Sustainable paper and operating a ‘less paper policy’ in everything we do
  • No beef served in catering for any event, and encouraging vegetarian/ vegan catering where possible
  • For any larger disposal, ensuring this is being disposed of sustainably or donated to be reused (e.g. we are currently refurbishing our office and are donating furniture to charities/ ensuring items are not going to landfill)
  • We are continuing to put pressure on our building landlord to switch to a renewable energy supplier and have a goal to achieve this by 2023 • Ensuring we are opting for green travel/ courier options
  • Auditing all agency travel miles in order to form more detailed travel impact reduction plan with Planet Mark
  • Greater emphasis on reducing unnecessary travel for client meetings, i.e. opting for remote first where possible
  • Designated ‘environmental officer’ in the office to remind employees of our polices and help to enforce them
  • Ensuring we are opting for green suppliers throughout the business where possible, e.g. stationary
  • We provide the cycle to work scheme and encouraging people to partake

Production:

  • Sustainable disposal of sets- giving away to charities (football clubs, schools etc.) We mainly use suppliers that organise this or re-use their materials
  • Food shoots- we give food waste to local charities through Plan Zheroes or City Harvest food donations
  • Stringent on general waste, no using single use plastics on our sets etc.
  • Avoiding any unnecessary paper use
  • Opting for green travel/ couriers
  • Ensuring our suppliers for shoots are on renewable tariff’s e.g. studios- so far we have achieved 100% in 2021
  • Calculating our carbon footprint of each shoot using Ad Green calculator and offsetting from the data
  • Discouraging unnecessary travel for client meetings where possible
  • Working to encourage ‘greener scripts’ e.g. any props detailed in a creative script will be shown on screen in an environmentally positive way (such as not showing disposable coffee cups, single use plastics or diesel cars)
  • We do not serve any beef on our sets and opt for vegetarian catering where possible
  • Our production budgets now include a carbon offset fee for our clients– which we then use to offset for them through AdGreen
  • Avoid shooting abroad unless absolutely necessary