About Our Commitment
As part of a global digital and media company, we are excited to announce that through our parent company, Media and Games Invest (MGI), we have joined forces with Planetly to help reduce our carbon footprint. From planting hundreds of thousands of trees to establishing a Sustainability Committee, to joining the UN Global Compact, MGI has been prioritizing the planet while helping publishers and advertisers achieve their goals.
“Sustainability plays an important role for MGI for many years already and even more in the future. Together with Planetly, we will work on further improvements towards meeting our target of being carbon neutral from 2022 onwards.”
Remco Westermann, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Media and Games Invest
Now, we’re working with Planetly to measure our carbon footprint and to evaluate how we can reduce our overall emissions, and make effective, impactful positive changes for our company and the world.
So, What Is Carbon Neutrality and Why Does It Matter?
To understand carbon neutrality, we first have to examine the impact of excess carbon dioxide on our planet.
Greenhouse gases are gases that lock heat in the atmosphere. These gases form an impenetrable “greenhouse” that traps the heat inside, warming the planet. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, and as a result, global climate change.
Carbon emissions occur from burning fossil fuels for things like transportation, energy, and more.
Adopting sustainable solutions like solar and wind power can help businesses reduce their carbon footprint, and even be carbon negative (that is, offsetting more carbon emissions than they produce). Carbon neutrality is the first step towards carbon negativity: after reducing emissions as much as possible, offsetting any remaining carbon emissions currently required to run a business.
To offset carbon emissions, you have to fund or create equivalent carbon savings elsewhere. For example, there is a carbon dioxide impact (or “cost”) to taking a commercial airline flight. You would have to plant a certain number of trees, to absorb that specific amount of carbon dioxide, and help purify our air, and therefore offset that carbon cost.
There are many ways to reduce and absorb carbon emissions: investing in green/energy-efficient technologies (like solar and wind, as mentioned before), forest restoration, carbon recapture, and others.
Why We Need to Take Action
By achieving carbon neutrality in the next few years, we can save the planet from an increase in heat by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement, an environmental protection agreement signed by 195 countries (including the EU), outlines this goal, too. Many countries are committing to carbon neutrality by 2050.
But 2050 is a long way away, and there’s no time to waste. We’re proud to be part of a company that is working to achieve this critical goal ASAP: by 2022, just next year. Working with Planetly will help us get there faster.
The Business Impact of Carbon Neutrality
Of course, every individual can make a difference. The food you compost, the materials you recycle, the lights you turn out all contribute to making the planet a cleaner, greener place to live.
But businesses have a responsibility to take drastic action. Businesses all over the world are contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and as a result, should be focused on reducing their environmental impact. Because businesses are larger entities, even small steps towards a greener future can make a big positive change.
By offsetting the carbon produced by supporting other means, businesses can limit their damage to the planet while promoting positive projects and sustainability.
Businesses should do everything in their power to reduce their carbon footprint and offset any remaining omissions. By offsetting the carbon produced by supporting other means, businesses can limit their damage to the planet while promoting positive projects and sustainability.
In addition to positive planet effects, going carbon neutral (or even carbon negative!) can be good for businesses, too. Apart from helping boost employee morale, a commitment to sustainability can be a competitive advantage. As the demand for responsible businesses grows, those who work towards a greener future will be favored over those who pollute. We are seeing positive shifts across the advertising landscape where advertisers, publishers, and agencies alike are prioritizing addressing climate change in an effort to move towards a more sustainable future.
Finding ways to limit emissions means improving efficiency. Those efficiencies add up to cost savings for businesses, too, helping the planet and the bottom line.
What Was Smaato Already Doing?
At Smaato, we have always been passionate about finding greener, more sustainable, and more efficient ways of doing things. We’re proud of the progress we’ve already made and what’s to come.
For example, in just 12 months, we’ve saved an estimated 3000+ KG of wood (that’s 3 metric tons), 70,000+ liters of water (or 18,900 gallons), and reduced waste by 500+ kilos (more than 1.1K pounds) simply by going fully paperless.
While very little printing is done in offices anymore, things like contracts and agreements often generate paper waste. At Smaato, all onboarding materials and contracts are signed using DocuSign, a digital alternative to printing, mailing, returning, and processing paper. In addition to reducing our impact on the environment, this has also saved us time and money. Documents are signed faster and returned and processed more efficiently. Follow ups are quicker, too.
Curious about how much paper waste your business is generating? Check out this free calculator from the Environmental Paper Network organization to estimate your impact.
Give it a try.
Everyday changes help, also. We also provide commuter benefits to encourage public transportation; offer filtered water in our offices to cut back on single-use plastic; and repair and refurbish, rather than replace, IT equipment.
What Is Planetly?
Planetly is a climate tech company and an accredited partner of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Planetly makes it easy to manage their carbon footprint. At MGI and Smaato, we understand the power of data and analytics — the more information we have, the better the decisions we can make. Planetly helps companies analyze their carbon footprint and provides insights and data to help drive decision making and carbon reduction.
Equipped with this information, we’ll be able to take positive action to reduce carbon emissions, while making better, greener changes and choices for long-term sustainability. Planetly will also help Smaato reduce emissions and offset any remaining emissions by investing in sustainable projects around the world, to improve sustainability, contribute to reforestation, and support green energy. MGI was already able to achieve carbon neutrality in 2020. We look forward to achieving neutrality together for 2021 and beyond.
Learn More
To learn more, you can check out the press release here, or visit Planetly.com. We hope you’ll join us in this powerful commitment to a greener world. The planet depends on it!
