Advertising sector launches new initiative to eliminate negative environmental impacts

AdGreen will develop a strategic partnership with the BAFTA’s Albert initiative

The Climate Action Working Group, led by the Advertising Association in partnership with the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), has launched AdGreen.

The initiative will provide organisations within the advertising sector with tools, advice and services to help reduce emissions and cut back on waste produced.

From 2021, the initiative will measure carbon footprints from advertising, before then empowering the sector to become zero-carbon and zero-waste. Carbon footprint calculators, specialist training, offsetting schemes and a renewable energy purchasing option will all be offered to relevant organisations.

The scheme will be spearheaded by industry specialist, Jo Coombes with support from strategy advisor Tricia Duffy.

“We want to build a future-proofed, carbon literate workforce, giving us the opportunity for the highest creative ambition with the lowest carbon impact,” Coombes said. “Ultimately, AdGreen means everyone producing advertising work will be able to capture and understand their own footprint data; advertisers and advertising agencies will be able to compare that to anonymised benchmarks.”

AdGreen has been backed at launch by APR (Advertising Production Resources), Havas, MullenLowe Group as part of IPG, Sky, Unilever and WPP. Additional support will be provided by the IPA, the Advertising Producers Association (APA), the Association of Photographers (AOP) and ISBA who will be coordinating member participation.

AdGreen will develop a strategic partnership with the BAFTA’s Albert initiative, which provides businesses and individuals across the broadcasting sector with resources to help them not only minimise the environmental impacts of their operations, but change the narrative around sustainability issues.

Albert provides digital resources explaining how broadcasters can “raise the issues” – incorporate environmental trends into their productions seamlessly – and “show the actions” – demonstrate to viewers that changes in mindsets, behaviours and policies can yield successful solutions.

Commenting on the launch, Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope said: “The consequences of the climate crisis will have a catastrophic impact on our planet and on lives and livelihoods. Urgent action is needed from every corner of every industry to move to a zero-carbon future.

“Unilever has committed to be a carbon-neutral company by 2030, and to have net-zero emissions from our products by 2039. What we do today is make or break. So we’re delighted to join our peers and other leading organisations to launch AdGreen, to push for real change in advertising production. Now is the time to commit to a fairer, zero-carbon world.”

Matt Mace