What is Net Zero? (And what Articulate Marketing is doing about it)

CEOs today: Net Zero by 2050 (but we’ll leave all the work to 2049, long after I’ve retired).

It’s not good enough, is it?

‘We hear a lot about rights and freedoms, but reducing our impact on the environment is a fundamental responsibility that underpins everything else. All that we enjoy, everyone we love and everything we value is threatened by the climate emergency. Net Zero is not so much a choice but a moral imperative.'

— Matthew Stibbe, CEO, Articulate Marketing

Not to toot our own horn, but that’s a bit better, right? Today, Articulate Marketing is committing to Net Zero by 2030. Or sooner. The sooner the better.

What is Net Zero?

Net Zero is the internationally-agreed goal to mitigate global warming, a major contributor to climate change. If temperatures rise by more than 1.5C then scientists predict catastrophic effects, such as extreme weather, mass extinctions and population displacement.

‘To ‘go Net Zero’ is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or to ensure that any ongoing emissions are balanced by removals.’

— Net Zero Climate

As such, in line with the Paris Agreement and the (somewhat underwhelming) discussions at COP26, businesses have been voicing their commitment to Net Zero. In this context, companies are planning to reduce their carbon footprint while offsetting emissions, usually by 2050. Here are some of the big players that have joined this pledge:

• Microsoft
• Google
• Apple

But Net Zero isn’t just for these large multinationals. Every business, no matter the size, must be working towards this goal for it to succeed.

Why it matters for Articulate

‘Humanity has done a lot of damage to the planet in the last hundreds of years and, unfortunately, continues to do so. It is overdue for us to act and behave responsibly to preserve our beautiful planet for future generations. We leave footprints everywhere we go and with everything we do. We aim for our footprints to be eco-friendly. There is no other choice. Hopefully, this is not too late and we can restore and preserve Earth’s natural beauty.’

— Mirela Mart, CFO, Articulate Marketing

As a B Corp, we choose to be a business that is a force for good. That means good for our people, for our clients and for the planet. Our job — more than marketing — is to leave the world in a better place than we found it.

What we’ve done so far

We only recently formalised our commitment for Net Zero, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been ignoring the issue. Here’s what we’ve been working on.

• The pandemic has led to a revolution in remote working, However, we have always been a remote working business, so that means no daily commute and no office. Ever. All our work is digital and hosted in the Cloud.
• We became a B Corp in 2018 and recently recertified. One ‘pillar’ of the assessment process is ‘Environment’, so we were rigorously audited in this area. Check out this poignant yet pithy article by Kate Sandle, former B Lab UK Director of Programmes and Engagement.
• Thanks to our partnership with fellow B Corp, Climate Care, we offset our carbon emissions every year, including for travel.
• We made Turbine, an application that lets us (and other companies) do routine paperwork such as expense claims and purchase requests online, reducing paper use.
• As a company, we’ve contributed over £500 to The Woodland Trust.
• We’ve also published informational content on ethical branding (or ‘Net Good marketing’ as we call it). For example, see our climate action plan for remote working businesses.

Our commitment to reducing our footprint

In the coming year, we will evaluate our Scope 3 emissions with special attention to CO2 emissions arising from our staff home working, business travel, purchases, tools and use of cloud computing services. We’ll be looking at ethical investment options for our pension contributions.

We have put together a working group to research and develop more ways we can build sustainability into our business. As we progress, we will put updates on our People and Planet page.

In short, we are actively and urgently addressing what we can do as a company to get to Net Zero as quickly as possible, at least by 2030. We encourage others in our industry to do the same, and welcome any partnerships or suggestions that could help us on our journey.

Getting the word out there is a great start. Share this article on Twitter with #NetGoodMarketing