Advertising Association launches two climate action groups

Members include ISBA, IPA, Unilever, Sky, The Guardian, adam&eveDDB, APA, W&K, Credos, PPA, Iris, Adjust Your Set, PRCA, The Marketing Society, The Marketing Academy and Mindshare

January 28, 2020, London: The Advertising Association, working in partnership with ISBA and the IPA, has launched two new groups, following direction from its Council to coordinate full efforts from the industry on Climate Action.

The groups – The Climate Action Steering Group (CASG) and the Climate Action Working Group (CAWG) – will be focused on three areas initially:

1. The production of a report to measure the UK advertising industry’s current carbon footprint and what businesses are doing to reduce it
2. The development of options for more ambitious collective action by the industry, particularly in encouraging an increasing presence of more sustainable products, services, messaging and behaviours in advertising
3. Supporting the ASA’s plan for exploring the role that advertising regulation can play in response to concerns around climate change and the human impact on the environment

The Climate Action Steering Group, chaired by Advertising Association Vice Chair, Sebastian Munden, EVP and General Manger, Unilever UK & Ireland is comprised of representatives of all the major companies and organisations in the industry (including The Marketing Society, The Marketing Academy and the Public Relations and Communications Association). It will meet every six months, beginning in March and its focus will be to drive the widest-possible engagement with initiatives to meet the industry’s goals, as legislated by the UK Government, across every part of the marketing, media and advertising communities.

The Climate Action Working Group, chaired by James Best, Chairman CAP/BCAP and Credos, will meet monthly to work on the delivery of the CASG’s vision and objectives and make recommendations on how these are achieved. Its first major strand of work will be the production of Carbon Footprint Annual Report (CFAR), establishing a benchmark for the industry and sharing best practice. The report is to be published before the UN’s climate change conference, COP 26 in Glasgow in November.

The Climate Action workstream is a key part of the AA Council’s new responsibility agenda in 2020 – full details of which will be unveiled at the Advertising Association’s annual industry summit, LEAD, this Thursday, January 30, at the QEII Centre in Westminster, London.

James Best, Chair of the Climate Action Working Group, said: “Our Council was unanimous in the decision to focus our efforts in the best way possible to tackle climate change. This is a wide-reaching issue but I am confident that our industry is well placed to move quickly and with real impact. There can be no doubting the huge appetite from the thousands of professionals working in UK advertising to play their part in active change.”

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association, added: “We are clear on the role we want our industry to play in helping the UK economy move as fast as it can to Net Zero. Advertising accelerates behaviour change and can be a real force for helping drive sustainable growth and social good. We saw this happening in 2019 with fantastic initiatives like #ChangeTheBrief. With ideas like this and many, many more, we have the opportunity to make a massive impact through the right action over the years ahead of us.”

Anybody interested in the industry’s work around Climate Action should contact the Advertising Association at climate@adassoc.org.uk and they can keep up to date on progress at the Climate Action policy page on the Advertising Association’s website.