Impact Overview Summary:

In 2023, we maintained significant environmental impact reductions on our 2019 baseline: -45%. We reduced our impact from the previous year (2022) by -9%, mainly by managing our waste more effectively and reducing our electricity demand.

We also increased our focus on addressing the scope 3 impact of marketing and advertising as an industry, such as donating our time to support industry programmes such as AdNetZero.

In 2023, we also became a B Corp certified company, joining a global community of businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact.

Methodology: 2023 Review Actions:

To establish THINKHOUSE’s 2023 carbon footprint, we used the same format as we did 2019-2022, analysing our impact across three key areas:

1. Office overheads: Utilities (heating, electricity), Consumables (paper), IT goods (laptops, phones, monitors, etc.), Wastes - recycling and landfilling

2. Travel: commuting from home to the office

3. Travel: business travel (on general business, non-chargeable)

Note: CO2 conversion factors are taken from Electric Ireland bills for the electricity and natural gas, and for most other inputs are taken from the Ecoinvent database, version 3.5.

Outcomes:

Thinkhouse’s operational carbon footprint for 2023 comes to a total 26.2 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

Broken down, the main source of our impact came from our gas (10 tonnes) and our business commuting and travel (10.1 tonnes).

Our gas usage comprised 38% of our overall 2023 footprint.

1. Office overheads: 4.5 tonnes CO₂-eq

2. Travel // commuting from home to the office: 6.9 tonnes CO₂-eq

3. Travel // business travel: 3.2 tonnes CO₂-eq

Key Takeaways | Opportunities & Challenges:

Reductions:

Energy: We switched our energy plan to a greener plan, but we are ultimately reliant on our national fuel mix and we use gas heating. We reduced our electricity use slightly. This is likely due to a server upgrade for our creative team.

Waste: We improved our waste management in 2023 by investing in 2 new storage units to keep materials in use for future events/productions.

Increases:

Travel: Our commuting travel impact was up from 2022, as we returned to the office for 3 days a week.

Additional 2023 Action Highlights:

Key focus areas include employee upskilling and broader industry transformation via thought leadership, pilot programmes and events.

• B Corp Certification: THINKHOUSE was certified as a B Corporation in October 2023. B Corps are legally committed to bringing benefit not just to shareholders, but all business stakeholders — workers, customers, communities, and the environment.
• Measurement: AdGreen calculator / environmental reporting in use for key productions/shoots.
• Collaboration: Part of AdNetZero Ireland action groups 1 and 5.
• Innovation: Driving forward systemic industry change with partners at Purpose Disruptors via the ‘Good Life 2030 Ireland’ project funded by Creative Ireland.
• Education: All employees continue to complete AdGreen training. Hosting regular internal learning sessions - ‘Friday’s For Future’ for all employees and weekly learning opportunities via our ‘Fit To Win’ programme.
• Thought Leadership: We volunteer our time to lecture at Universities and deliver talks to drive sustainability across the PR, marketing and advertising industry. Some of the senior team also give time to NGO boards. In 2023 this amounted to over 5 weeks of agency time.

Note: This 2023 impact assessment was completed in Dec 2024. It follows the format of our previous eco reviews, as we work toward sustaining at least a 50% reduction in our operational emissions by 2030 (23.9 tonnes CO₂-eq).