Val Morgan Digital partners with OzHarvest
Val Morgan Digital has expanded its Ready, Steady, Offset initiative, partnering with OzHarvest.
The announcement:
As Val Morgan Group continues to build out its Responsible Business Framework, the Val Morgan Digital business has evolved its Ready, Steady, Offset initiative as it enters its second year — an initiative where it continues to be a market leader in sustainable digital advertising.
Val Morgan Digital has built a suite of thriving media brands powered by the communal passion of its audiences, and sustainability lives at the core of its values. In its first year of Ready, Steady, Offset, via its partnership with Carbon Positive Australia, Val Morgan Digital planted 1400 trees, resulting in 135 tonnes of Co2 absorbed by the time the trees mature.
Through a partnership with OzHarvest, Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, Val Morgan Digital will donate two meals to those in need for every 10,000 impressions served within its campaigns on The Latch, to help divert food from landfill and prevent the release of greenhouse emissions through avoiding food wastage.
The delivery of two meals diverts 1kg of food from landfill, preventing the release of 6.6kg of greenhouse gas emissions through avoiding food waste*.
This partnership will see Val Morgan Digital further solidify its corporate partnership with OzHarvest, to help reach the national target of halving food waste by 2030.
“At a time when the rising cost of living has seen the need for food relief significantly increase, the support of
The Latch is more valuable than ever. OzHarvest is also committed to halving food waste by 2030 and inspiring and influencing others to do the same” said Lisa Dainty, national community partnerships manager, OzHarvest.
Amanda Bardas, publisher, Val Morgan Digital added, “While Australia might rank as one of the most food-secure countries in the world, the reality right now is that more people than ever are struggling to put food on the table. Alongside the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis ranks equally with our audiences as a current cause of concern**.
We’re dedicated to meeting our audiences where they’re at — and this evolution of Ready, Steady, Offset to help support those in need and the sustainability of our planet is just one example. In the next phase of this initiative where we continue to test and learn best practice in sustainable digital advertising, we aim to provide 10,000 meals by the end of the year. We will continue to support our partnership with Carbon Positive Australia by driving awareness of its projects through editorial support on The Latch.”
This is the next evolution of Ready, Steady, Offset – an initiative that sits alongside The Latch’s Sustainability vertical and commitment to walking the walk when it comes to climate impact.
*This data is based on Sustainability Victoria’s 2020 Report– The Path to Half
** Based on Val Morgan Digital audience research April 2023.
Source: Val Morgan
Great partnership with Oz Harvest.
Great partnership with Carbon Positive too.
But Val Morgan, to call yourself ‘…continuing to be a market leader in sustainable digital advertising’ is ludicrous – for the following reasons.
Your initiative has been going for 12 months, with the achievement of 1400 trees – 135 tonnes of CO2 offset by the time trees reach maturity (which is in many years time).
What does this offset mean against your yearly emissions? I expect it could be just minutia, based on global data for ad emissions (source below).
How does this equate to the published forecast of program delivery of 1000 trees by the end of 2022 (story published june 15, 2022 mumbrella, announcing Val Morgan’s Ready Set Offset initiative) expected to deliver just 21 tonnes of CO2 reduction? It doesn’t seem to add up does it…
More importantly as the self-professed industry leader, what are you doing Val Morgan to actually reduce or avoid emissions- the most important action to take in the climate crisis? For example, last year investment analysis group Ebiquity and emissions measurement firm Scope3 found that over 15 percent of global advertising spend is wasted on inventory that generates no value while generating excessive amounts of CO2 emissions. Do you have a plan in place to tackle this? Do you have any net zero goal? What investment are you making to transform your business to be sustainable?
I can’t find out because there’s no published strategy on Val Morgan’s website about the initiative, or sustainability strategy. Basic transparency. The only info I can find is your announcements on marketing media. Which I will not take aim at now, but strongly encourage deeper vetting of sources for sustainability stories.
So please Val Morgan, how can/do you define any of this as leadership?
source: https://ebiquity.com/news-insights/research/the-hidden-cost-of-digital-advertising/