AA gives evidence to the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee

As part of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee’s inquiry into behaviour change, today our Director of Communications, Matt Bourn, gave evidence to the Committee.

The key focus of the inquiry concerns behaviour change around sustainability. The Committee is also interested in the wider conditions needed for people to make changes and the sequencing of related policy measures. The Committee also issued a call for evidence in December 2021, to which the AA submitted written evidence.

Matt was joined by Steve Smith, Executive Producer at Picture Zero Productions and Kris de Meyer, Director at UCL Climate Action Unit. The Committee wanted to hear from the witnesses about how media, advertising and government communications cover climate change and the environment, and how this impacts on behaviour change to meet climate and environment goals.

Here are some of the main points raised during the session: 

• The AA advocated for the role of the ASA and its effectiveness in preventing greenwashing. The Committee was interested to hear about the existing regulatory scrutiny and the reputational costs of breaking the self-regulatory codes.
• Matt highlighted the AA’s Ad Net Zero programme and recent examples of sustainable advertising campaigns, citing Sky’s Zero Footprint Fund.
• Matt outlined the importance of conducting an evidence-based approach and suggested to the Committee that it was the Government’s role to make sustainable choices more accessible.
• The AA championed the power of advertising and its ability to stimulate change and competition.

The Committee will hold its final evidence session with Ministers in the coming weeks, before it produces recommendations to Government based on the evidence provided.