We Are AdGreen

What We Are AdGreen does

AdGreen (legally Advertising Association AdGreen Ltd) is a UK-registered private limited company headquartered in London that operates a carbon calculator and sustainability resource suite purpose-built for the advertising production industry. Its core product is a free, self-serve web-based Carbon Calculator that enables advertising agencies, production companies, brands, and production consultancies to measure emissions from motion, stills, and audio productions across 13 defined activity areas, including air travel, catering, data storage, equipment transport, AI usage, shooting spaces, and wardrobe. The platform offers two calculation modes — Early Insights (pre-production estimates using educated guesses) and Final Footprints (post-production calculations using actual project data) — and supports multi-company collaboration with role-based access control across holding companies, brands, agencies, production companies, post-production houses, and suppliers. The technology stack is built on Heroku (backend/API, PostgreSQL database), Vercel (frontend with Next.js), AWS S3 (file storage), and integrates Climatiq as the carbon intelligence engine, with Bugsnag, New Relic, and PaperTrail for observability, and Zoho for CRM and newsletter distribution.

The organisation operates a hybrid funding model in which the calculator is provided completely free of charge, driving product-led adoption across the global advertising industry, while revenue is generated through a voluntary industry levy of 0.25% of UK production cost (capped at £2,500 per production) collected by UK-based agencies and production companies. The organisation is institutionally embedded in the advertising industry's sustainability infrastructure, backed by major trade bodies (IPA, ISBA, AOP, APA, Advertising Association) and supported by founding agency partners and major brands (WPP, Dentsu, Havas, Publicis UK, adam&eveDDB, AMV BBDO, Ogilvy, Diageo, Google, L'Oreal, Unilever, Sky). AdGreen maintains a deliberately small team of approximately five core members, with dedicated hubs in the UK (headquarters), the United States, and the Netherlands, and operates an Advisory Board comprising senior representatives from across the industry value chain.

Name

We Are AdGreen

Legal name

Advertising Association AdGreen Ltd

Website

https://weareadgreen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

AdGreen provides a free carbon calculator, sustainability training, and reduction resources that help advertising agencies, production companies, and brands measure and lower emissions from motion, stills, and audio production.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainability Software for Advertising Production

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise Carbon Accounting & GHG Inventory Platforms (EUABAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Emissions Factors, LCA & Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) Platforms (EUABAEAD), Benchmarking, Ratings & Stakeholder Reporting Portals (Scorecards, Dashboards) (EUABAEAJ), Supply Chain (Scope 3) Emissions & Supplier Engagement Platforms (EUABAEAE)

Keywords

• Carbon emissions calculator
• Advertising sustainability
• Carbon footprint measurement
• Sustainable production
• Environmental impact tracking

Headquarters

HQ city

City Of London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. AdGreen Levy: A voluntary levy payment of 0.25% of the cost to produce an advertising asset (i.e., £2.50 per £1,000 spent on a shoot), capped at £2,500 per production. The levy is paid by organizations producing advertising work for advertisers in the UK and passed onto AdGreen. Currently collected by UK-based organizations on productions worldwide, with potential for international rollout.
2. Free Calculator Platform: The core carbon calculator is provided free of charge to all users. This drives adoption and data collection that supports the organization's mission while the levy provides funding sustainability.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

AdGreen operates a free, bespoke carbon calculator for the advertising industry that measures emissions from motion, stills, and audio production projects across multiple activity areas (air travel, catering, data storage, transport, accommodation, AI usage, shooting spaces, wardrobe, etc.). The platform supports both Early Insights (pre-production estimates) and Final Footprint (post-production actuals) calculation modes with multi-company collaboration features. The offering is complemented by sustainability training programs and reduction resources including guides, case studies, and annual reports, all funded by a voluntary 0.25% AdGreen Levy on UK production costs.

Product overview

AdGreen provides a suite of sustainability tools for the advertising industry centered on its Carbon Calculator, complemented by Sustainability Training and Reduction Resources. The core AdGreen Carbon Calculator is a free web application that enables businesses to measure emissions from advertising production (motion, stills, and audio) through Early Insights (pre-production estimates) and Final Footprints (actual data calculations). The AdGreen Levy provides optional funding at 0.25% of production costs. The Reduction Resources include tailored guides, annual reports, and documented case studies. AdGreen's team is UK-based with hubs in the USA and Netherlands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AdGreen Carbon Calculator A free web-based carbon calculator that enables advertising businesses to measure and understand the carbon footprint of their motion, stills, and audio production projects. Supports Early Insights (pre-production estimates) and Final Footprints (post-production actuals) calculation modes with emissions tracked across activity areas including air travel, catering, data storage, work spaces, AI usage, equipment transport, accommodation, shooting spaces, wardrobe, and art department/SFX. Includes multi-company collaboration with role-based access control.
• Sustainability Training Training programs and educational resources that teach advertising professionals how to make their productions more sustainable and communicate their climate-friendly credentials. Available online for individuals and teams.
• Reduction Resources A library of resource guides, case studies, annual reports, and articles providing practical advice for reducing carbon emissions in advertising production. Includes tailored guides for brands, agencies, production companies, and suppliers, plus documented case studies showcasing real-world carbon reduction successes.
• AdGreen Levy A voluntary funding mechanism where UK-based agencies and production companies contribute 0.25% of production costs (capped at £2,500 per production) to support AdGreen's operations. Collected by UK-based organizations on productions worldwide with templates provided for levy collection.

Quantifiable outcome

• AdGreen's 2025 Annual Review shows advertising production could cut emissions by more than a quarter and save millions in costs
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

20 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey industry trade body supporting AdGreen as part of the advertising industry's move to sustainable production. IPA is listed among supporting organizations and likely provides strategic guidance through advisory board participation.
• ISBAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor UK advertising trade body representing advertisers, supporting AdGreen's mission to reduce production emissions industry-wide.
• AOP (Association of Online Publishing)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrade body representing online publishers, supporting sustainable advertising production initiatives.
• APA (Advertising Producers Association)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrade body for production companies, partnered with AdGreen on events including Production Unplugged sponsorship and ESG zone support.
• Advertising AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUmbrella trade organization for UK advertising, hosting the AdGreen initiative under its umbrella. AdGreen is registered as Advertising Association AdGreen Ltd.
• WPPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor advertising holding company, founding partner of AdGreen. Hosts Superuser Celebration events. Among levy collectors and supporters of sustainable production.
• DentsucoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMajor advertising agency network supporting AdGreen as part of industry sustainability initiatives.
• HavascoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal advertising and communications company supporting AdGreen initiatives.
• Publicis UKcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMajor advertising holding company among AdGreen supporters and levy collectors.
• adam&eveDDBmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerLeading creative agency, early adopter and supporter of AdGreen. Case study partner for Quorn production.
• AMV BBDOmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerMajor creative agency, founding WPP partner, multiple Ad Net Zero award winner for sustainable production.
• OgilvymajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal agency network supporting AdGreen, with multiple case study productions (Perrier campaigns with Gang Films).
• MSQmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoined AdGreen's Advisory Board, providing insights for delivering sustainable worldwide production through local content creators.
• Founder + LightningcoreTechnology or IntegrationSub-processor providing support, management and development of the carbon calculator tool.
• HerokucoreTechnology or IntegrationCloud platform hosting the BE/API application, database (PostgreSQL), error tracking (Bugsnag), performance tracking (New Relic), and system logs (PaperTrail).
• VercelcoreTechnology or IntegrationCloud platform providing hosting and content delivery network services using Next.js framework.
• AWS S3coreTechnology or IntegrationFile storage service for files, images, and database backups.
• ClimatiqcoreTechnology or IntegrationEmbedded carbon intelligence solutions used for carbon emission calculations.
• ZohocoreTechnology or IntegrationCRM system used for managing leads, contacts, and newsletter distribution.
• Advisory Board MemberscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory board made up of leading industry players and UK advertising trade bodies (advertisers, agencies, production companies) providing strategic guidance. MSQ Source specifically joined to bring experience in sustainable worldwide production.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Greenly: Greenly is a carbon accounting platform tailored to SMBs and mid-market companies, offering automated footprinting and reduction tracking. While SMB-focused, Greenly's vertical-modules approach mirrors AdGreen's specialist positioning and could be adapted by agencies or in-house teams as an alternative.
• Normative: Normative is a carbon accounting and reduction engine serving enterprise customers with deep emissions analytics. It competes for the same advertiser-driven Scope 3 spend as AdGreen and could erode AdGreen's wedge by offering media-specific or supply-chain-specific modules.
• Watershed: Watershed is an enterprise carbon accounting platform that helps companies measure and reduce emissions across operations and supply chains. It competes with AdGreen at the top of the funnel — large advertisers could use Watershed's generalist platform to measure production-related Scope 3, reducing reliance on a vertical-specific tool like AdGreen.
• albert: albert is the UK-based sustainable production certification and resource hub for the screen industries (film, TV, and advertising production). It shares the same UK trade-body-backed, industry-funded model as AdGreen and serves overlapping producers and advertisers — AdGreen's methodology and albert's certification are complementary for productions seeking both measurement and recognition.
• Sweep: Sweep is a carbon management platform focused on mid-market companies, covering Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions. It targets corporate sustainability teams and could credibly extend into advertising-production value-chain emissions measurement, competing with AdGreen on methodology and dashboarding for the same advertiser buyer.
• Emitwise: Emitwise is an AI-powered carbon accounting platform helping enterprises measure and reduce emissions across operations and value chains. As a generalist platform with scope to specialize, it represents another well-capitalized competitor for advertising-related Scope 3 measurement work.
• Persefoni: Persefoni is a carbon accounting and climate-management SaaS platform targeting enterprise finance and sustainability teams. Like Watershed, it represents the generalist carbon-accounting tier that could expand into advertising-production measurement, overlapping with AdGreen's use case for enterprise advertisers.

Emerging players

• Patch: Patch is an API-first carbon offset and removal platform enabling businesses to embed carbon activity into their products and workflows. It sits one layer downstream of AdGreen's measurement step, and could partner with — or be embedded into — ad-production carbon workflows as an adjacent enabling service.

Broad incumbents

• Workiva: Workiva is an established ESG and sustainability reporting platform used by large public companies for CSRD, SEC, and ISSB-aligned disclosures. It operates at a different scale and scope than AdGreen but addresses the same ultimate buyer (corporate sustainability leads) with broader compliance workflows.
• Salesforce Net Zero Cloud: Salesforce Net Zero Cloud is a carbon accounting product within the Salesforce platform, leveraging its enterprise CRM install base. As a broad incumbent, it represents the platform-consolidation threat to specialists like AdGreen if major advertisers prefer integrated-suite carbon tools.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@weareadgreen
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/weareadgreen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about We Are AdGreen