Serviced emissions in depth

Serviced Emissions are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from or impacted by client activities that are informed or enabled by the advice or services of a professional service provider.

Professional Services Providers (PSPs) – consultancies, law firms, ad agencies, PR firms and more – shape how their clients operate. Their advice, campaigns and analysis guide trillions in economic activity, even representing around 8% of the UK’s GDP.  As such, they can be true game changers in the transition to a sustainable and just future. Serviced emissions capture the impacts of PSPs’ client work and advocacy, reflecting how their professional influence can either accelerate or delay our shared transition to a just and sustainable future. 

As a sector with highly skilled and capable professionals, PSPs have the opportunity to engage with their ‘beyond operational footprint’ and enhance their brand value, build new client relationships, and attract talent, all while staying ahead of the legal, financial, and reputational risks from servicing high-carbon clients. 

Current carbon accounting standards and net zero pledge initiatives like the GHG Protocol and Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) only focus on firms’ operational emissions, overlooking their far greater influence through client work. While initiatives like Ad Net Zero have pushed firms to clean up their own internal operations, the next step is applying that same ambition to client portfolios. Without it, the paradox is that firms can appear net-zero-aligned while still enabling high-carbon projects.

Campaigns such as Clean Creatives and Law Students for Climate Accountability have worked to draw out this paradox: demonstrating how PSPs are able to continually support and service high-carbon firms to legitimise or enable emissions with little scrutiny. We are increasingly seeing PSPs embroiled in controversy over inherent conflicts of interest by advising on both sides of the transition: recent analysis from climate NGO ARIA has demonstrated the tension of serving both the regulator and the regulated: Danish consulting firm Ramboll was hired by both the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and firms lobbying to weaken the bans. Examples like these demonstrate both the tension and the opportunity for PSPs to lead with integrity and coherence. Recognising ‘serviced emissions’ would close this blind spot, rewarding firms for their role in scaling real-world impact, not just operational efficiency.

We have seen the PSP sector adapt quickly before, from quitting tobacco advertising to withdrawing services from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Similar shifts are now underway as public, legal, and employee expectations of PSPs rise. 

• Workers are rejecting employers linked to greenwashing; over 1,100 McKinsey staff in 2021 signed a letter to senior management pledging to refuse work with fossil fuel firms. 
• Clients, too, are acting: the Global Climate and Health Alliance has recently brought together more than 75 global health organisations who are now avoiding agencies serving fossil-fuel interests.
• Professional guidance is changing: the Law Society, a professional body for solicitors in England and Wales, defined ‘advised emissions’ for the first time in 2023 and made it clear that law firms committed to pursuing the 1.5C Paris Agreement goal should also consider “whether it is consistent to accept instruction and to advise on certain matters that the firm decides are incompatible with its climate change commitments”. 
• Regulators and courts are catching up: lawsuits and legal complaints have named major PSPs like McKinsey and WPP for their roles in climate misinformation and fossil-fuel promotion. 
• Meanwhile, research by Clean Creatives shows that fossil clients contribute less than 1% of global ad spend, weakening the commercial argument for serving them in the long-term. 

Many PSPs work with high-emitting sectors with the aim of helping them transition. This intention is both valuable and necessary, but assessing genuine progress from those clients can be complex. The Catalysing Climate Action report highlights the need for clearer benchmarks: firms should assess each client’s actual progress toward credible climate goals and embed emissions reductions recommendations directly into their services and advice.

However, independent research shows that the gap between ambition and action remains significant. For example, only 1% of the ad industry’s energy sector clients support policies aligned with the Paris Agreement. By developing consistent screening tools and transparent criteria, PSPs can distinguish between clients committed to transformation and those using transition language to delay change.

Recognising these nuances allows PSPs to engage constructively, allowing them to support real transition while maintaining integrity and alignment with long-term climate goals.

Serviced emissions represent both a risk and an opportunity. By aligning client influence with climate goals, PSPs can protect their reputation, attract talent, and strengthen long-term resilience. Those who lead this shift won’t just comply with new expectations, they will help define the next era of accountability and sustainable growth.

There are many  open questions that we hope to answer as part of the Serviced Emissions Hub, including: 

• How will we measure and manage serviced emissions? What tools, metrics and inventories will allow us to capture ‘influence’ across such diverse client work? 
• What counts as ‘climate-aligned’ work? How will we draw clear boundaries in portfolios that span many sectors, including many grey areas? 
• How do we balance competitive pressures? If one firm turns down a high-carbon contract, how do we ensure others do not simply step in, repeating the same patterns we’ve seen in past areas like divestment?

These are real, practical challenges, and our growing community in the Serviced Emissions Hub is working to solve them together.