b) The proprietary tool A.L.I.C.E. (Advertising Limiting Impacts & Carbon Emissions)
To determine the carbon emissions of goods and services, the first and simplest option is to apply emission factors to the total amount of purchases made, these emissions factors being public and international, and by category of products and services. The second option is to measure the impact of the components of a product or service as closely as possible. This has been Publicis Groupe’s commitment since 2017, with the creation of A.L.I.C.E. Since the end of 2019, the agencies have been using this ad hoc calculation tool, developed and monitored by Bureau Veritas for calculation methodologies aligned with the GHG Protocol, and for updating emissions factors (emissions factors taken from the IEA – International Energy Agency; DEFRA – Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the United Kingdom; ADEME – Ecological Transition Agency in France; EPA – Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, etc.). A.L.I.C.E. is a tool for the Company’s Climate objectives, for clients to reduce the impacts of our products and services. A.L.I.C.E. covers all Groupe business lines: Creative, Production, Media, Events, Data and DBT (Digital Business Transformation), and makes it possible to respond to a request from clients on the calculation of the carbon impact of their marketing and communication activities.
A.L.I.C.E. has already made it possible to reduce the impacts of the campaigns and projects that have been assessed, thanks to the upstream reflection that is undertaken well before measuring the impacts. The measurement also identifies easy-to-action levers to reduce impacts by 20-25%. For example, reducing the size of visuals and/or video formats can generate more than 50% savings on electricity consumption. The agency has thus established new production standards to maintain visual quality and minimize these energy consumption impacts.
Since 2022, A.L.I.C.E. has hosted two APIs with experts in the measurement of media-related impacts, Impact + and Scope 3, making it possible to refine the calculations of digital impacts, particularly those related to programming. Others are being examined.
A.L.I.C.E.’s governance is the responsibility of the Groupe’s CSR Department, with a cross-functional project group of around 20 employees from different business lines and countries actively participating in A.L.I.C.E.’s improvements and developments. Bureau Veritas acts as a trusted third party and ensures compliance with the methodological framework by assessing each improvement project. A presentation methodological document is publicly available on the Groupe’s website in the CSR section of the Responsible Marketing section.
2025 was devoted to methodological updates, the integration of the GMSF (Global Media Sustainable Framework) framework, developed within Ad Net Zero to measure the impacts of broadcasting in the media and platforms (all types of media), and verification by an external third party of the alignment of the calculations with the GHG Protocol.
c) Positive AIs
With the central place given to generative artificial intelligence in the Groupe’s strategy, and given the regulatory and societal challenges related to our businesses, tools for marketing have been created to facilitate certain tasks, with a responsible technology approach.
Antigreenwashing AI: several countries or regions have implemented regulations or standards, mainly intended to protect consumers from all forms of misleading communication. This AI allows teams to carry out a quick but detailed initial analysis of the key elements of their campaign or project, texts, images and videos, and to assess their degree of compliance. By reducing back-and-forth communication, we save time; it is a tool that is appreciated by sales and legal departments. Antigreenwashing AI has been accessible to all employees since 2024 via the internal platform Marcel.ai, in several languages. This service has interested several clients.
Positive AI Representations: beyond compliance, representing a human society in all its diversity and promoting more sustainable behaviors goes through every aspect of a communication: the people and behaviors represented, down to the details of the environment and context. This tool helps teams to avoid bias and to make their communications a vector for new narratives, well upstream of the project. Positive AI Representations will be available in 2026 to all employees on Marcel.ai and in several languages.
d) Once And For All Coalition: for stronger inclusion
Launched in 2021 at the initiative of Publicis Media US, in 2023, this coalition brought together more than 80 companies, including clients/brands and media. The common objective is to build long-term relationships with media that address very granular audiences. Clients thus increased their investments with these media by +50%.
This program has enabled the Groupe to develop analysis tools from the media planning stage and for media purchasing, including the Inclusive Buying Protocol (IBP). This tool is unique in the market and makes it possible to align the objectives of a communication campaign with the demographics of the brand’s potential customers. This tool ensures better coverage of all target population segments, corrects any bias resulting from automated purchasing mechanisms, such as with programmatic advertising, and complements the efficiency of a campaign. The IBP, which uses a more granular approach to the audiences sought, has been deployed in the various Publicis Media tools in the United States.
Since 2021, through its dedicated Inclusion Investment Funds, the Groupe will have invested USD 35 million in the creation of projects, representing 400+ hours of content, alone generating more than 500 million additional views.
