Tracking down the hidden carbon footprint

The paper industry continues to cop the brunt of environmentalist anger when it comes to the evils of carbon emissions. Some of this is justified. But there is another CO2 monster lurking in the office. In an exclusive report for Print 21, Christopher Sewell from P3 reports on why print is not the enemy.

Marketers tend have a simplistic catch-cry of 'move away from paper-based communications and go online'. So let's have a look at some basic facts and figures about online.

Approximately 1.5% p.a. of power consumed in the United States goes to running the server farms. That's over 1 GtCO2 p.a. (1,000,000,000 tonnes)

A basic national buy of banner ads on one of Australia's top search engines will give the advertiser over 700,000 views delivered per day. This adds up to over 7 tonnes of CO2-e entering the atmosphere every week for this simple cost effective medium.

In the current uninformed, unmeasured world of marketing communications this works well for marketers as they can buy bucket loads of on-line banners and pop-ups for a fraction of the price of print. Being so cheap means there are literally millions of page views sent out that by sheer weight of numbers (and carbon) they target their specific audience.

When used in a very targeted manner, online is a very cost and carbon efficient way to market. Print needs to think about targeting and be transparent about the emissions caused by the process, unlike the silent online industry.

The print industry does need to continue to reinvent itself in the new climate change era. It is now vital for both future cost control (carbon will have a cost and so electricity prices will rise) and reputation, to reduce waste and operate a more energy efficient business. You can start by helping your customers better target their communications, even if it does mean printing fewer items.

Christopher Sewell is a P3 consultant specialising in carbon emissions from marketing communications. He is also the CEO of The Gaia Partnership. More information is available on www.p3.com.au