Advertising / Marketing Services

MSQ Partners sustainability score: 52/100

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About MSQ Partners

MSQ Partners is a UK marketing group headquartered in London, with agencies working in creative, media, branding, communications, data and technology. Creative, customer experience and media work is about 59% of its revenue, branding and communications 17%, and technology and analytics 24%.

More about MSQ Partners

It is controlled by the private equity firm One Equity Partners. 9 million revenue in its year to February 2026.

Founded 2023Head office London, UKStaff ~1,338 FTE (FY to Feb 2026)Revenue ~£331.9M revenue (FY to Feb 2026)Website ↗

Our verdict

MSQ's footprint was 5,007 tCO2e in its year to February 2025, flat against its 2020 baseline: its own operations' emissions are down 68%, but its supply-chain emissions rose. It has SBTi-approved near-term targets, though its supply-chain target is per employee, and it says both that it stopped offsetting in 2023 and that it buys carbon credits. Its agencies have worked for Shell, BP and British Gas, and Clean Creatives named MSQ in its 2023 list of agencies working for fossil-fuel companies.

MSQ Partners scores 52/100 (Making progress) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified October 2026.

That places MSQ Partners joint 108th of 900 companies scored, and 2nd of 6 in Advertising / Marketing Services.

The ten questions

What is MSQ Partners doing well, and where does it fall short?

Strongest on Carbon Footprint — Operations and Carbon Footprint — Supply Chain (6/10, 6/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Energy Source (4/10, 4/10).

What's missing

Where MSQ Partners lost points

For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.

  • Emissions from its own operations6/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
  • Emissions from its supply chain6/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
  • Whether its emissions are falling4/10No evidence of a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
  • How clean its energy is4/10Less than half its energy shown to be renewable, or no transition plan.
  • Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
  • How it uses materials and handles waste4/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
  • Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
  • Its climate targets6/10Its targets aren't validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
  • How openly it reports6/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
  • Its record on controversies5/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.

A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.

The calculation

How is MSQ Partners's SINK score calculated?

Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.

SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale
Industry base impact
Advertising / Marketing Services sector ceiling.
60 / 100
Performance score
Sum of the ten questions, each scored 0 to 10.
49 / 100
Raw score
Weighted average before scale penalty.
(0.3 × 60) + (0.7 × 49) = 52.3
Scale penalty
Multiplier based on total emissions. Bigger polluters lose more.
× 1
Final score
Rounded. Making progress.
52 / 100
Where the evidence comes from

What evidence is MSQ Partners's score based on?

16 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.

38% of them were published by MSQ Partners itself; the rest come from independent sources.

10 of 16 sources are independent of the company.

[1]Self-reported
MSQ Partners Carbon Reduction Plan — December 2025

“Scope 2 (market-based) 151.9”

2025
Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q8Q9
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[2]Self-reported
MSQ Partners Emissions Calculation Methodology — July 2026

“In FY2025, we migrated to Cozero”

2026
Q1Q2
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[3]Public record
Marvel Topco Limited Group Accounts — Year to 28 February 2026

“The only company to meet the requirements is Walk In The Gate Limited.”

2026
Q1
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[4]Self-reported
MSQ Partners Sustainability Policy — July 2026

“that nature and scale of impact.”

2026
Q5Q6Q7
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[5]Self-reported
MSQ Climate Action Strategy

“We're pursuing ISO 14001 certification to ensure”

Unknown
Q9
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[6]Independent source
DeSmog — MSQ Partners Profile

“had its emissions reduction target verified by the Science-Based Targets initiative in 2021”

Ongoing
Q8Q10
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[7]Self-reported
MSQ Partners Ditching Its Carbon Negative Status — Blog Post

“In October 2023, we stopped all carbon offsetting at MSQ, therefore ceasing to be a carbon negative organisation.”

Unknown
Q8
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[8]Self-reported
MSQ Partners Sustainability Page

“We invest in a mixed portfolio of verified carbon credits and tree planting to address residual emissions”

Ongoing
Q8Q9
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[9]Independent source
Campaign — MSQ Appointed to Shell Global Roster

“has been appointed to Shell's global agency roster following a six-month competitive pitch.”

2022
Q10
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[10]Independent source
The Drum — B Lab Hit with Official Complaint

“Four Havas agencies, along with Canadian agency Tam-Tam\TBWA and UK network MSQ, have held their B Corp status while maintaining ties with the fossil fuel industry.”

2023
Q10
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[11]Independent source
The Drum — Clean Creatives Research Identifies 5 More B Corp Agencies Linked to Big Oil

“Additionally, a previously undisclosed relationship with British Gas has been discovered at the agency MSQ.”

2024
Q10
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[12]Independent source
Clean Creatives — B Lab Complaint

“the agency MSQ has been providing marketing services to Shell since 2022”

2023
Q10
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[13]
msqpartners.com

“Scope 3 figures rose from 3129.7 metric tons to 4022.5 metric tons during the same period.”

Q3
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[14]
lbbonline.com

“The certification applies to the entire MSQ group”

Q9
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[15]
campaignlive.com

“a previously undisclosed relationship between MSQ parent company Smarts and British Gas has been uncovered.”

Q10
View →
[16]
marketing-interactive.com

“In addition, Clean Creatives revealed that MSQ is working with British Gas.”

Q10
View →

If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.

For MSQ Partners

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    MSQ Partners: SINK sustainability score 52/100.

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MSQ Partners in context

How does MSQ Partners compare with other advertising / marketing services companies?

Where MSQ Partners sits among advertising / marketing services peers.

Among the 6 major advertising / marketing services brands we've scored, MSQ Partners sits 2nd of 6.

2/6
MSQ Partners's rank
50
Industry average
43
Industry low
60
Industry high
See all 6 in Advertising / Marketing Services →
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