Earth Day 2022

Today the world celebrates the Earth.

Since 1970, people and communities across the globe come together on April 22 to promote awareness for the health of our environment.

It is now that we need to act – the IPCC has declared that it is “almost inevitable” that temperatures will rise above 1.5C. This is why Earth Day is so important.

While people around the world will show their support in a range of different ways today, Earth Day includes a variety of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org. The theme for 2022 is ‘Invest in Our Planet’ and organisers are calling for ‘unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods’.

To mark the occasion, we asked our Ad Net Zero supporters how they are celebrating and showing support this Earth Day. Here is what they told us:

AdGreen

AdGreen is gearing up to release a refreshed version of the Carbon Calculator tool in May, with additional resources to help new users. You can find out more about the Carbon Calculator tool here.

Advertising Production Resources (APR)

APR is committed to promoting sustainability by helping educate the industry, supporting its clients in their carbon reduction strategies, and holding themselves accountable to these same goals. This Earth Day, APR is exploring the 2022 theme, “Invest in our Planet,” by sharing ways advertisers can invest in sustainable content creation. They are also hosting an Earth Day gathering for APR-ites, to help broaden the company’s internal understanding of the impact of carbon mitigation in production so that they can continue to lead their clients to a carbon net zero future.

You can learn more about their sustainability tips and Earth Day initiatives by following them on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Coffee&TV

This Earth Month Coffee & TV has been/will be sharing their experiences and solutions for driving climate action and protecting our Planet Earth. This includes individual engagement, business action, and climate justice. You can view their Earth Month video and week one post here.

D&AD

D&AD is launching, together with WeTransfer, Creativity as a Catalyst for Change: a free online course covering the fundamentals of impactful work, developing an authentic approach to answering global challenges and using creativity to enact change. While creativity for good is a personal and business imperative for many, this course will explore how to turn this awareness and intention into action. Led by creative change-makers, all working towards a more sustainable future in their chosen fields, this course will build creative confidence to bring world-changing ideas to life, from concept to creation.

You can sign up to  the free masterclass here!

Dentsu

Dentsu has a range of initiatives and events taking place during Earth Week:

• Dentsu will be supporting the Science Based Targets Initiative call on more companies across the world to commit to the most ambitious decarbonization possible by setting targets through the Net-Zero Standard. Dentsu were the first in the industry to have their near and long-term net zero targets validated under SBTi’s new Net Zero Standard, including a deep decarbonisation target to reduce absolute emissions by 90% by 2040 across its entire value chain.
• Dentsu UK & Ireland are celebrating Earth Day by launching The Friday Switch: a new shareable initiative launching today. The initiative encourages the advertising group’s employees and clients, the industry and beyond, to highlight the small changes in their day that can embed sustainable behaviours, and make remote working and home life more sustainable. The Friday Switch starts with options to consider on food, energy and recycling. You can find out more about it here.

Additionally, Dentsu’s Sustainability Officer, Anna Lungley, will be taking part in Microsoft Advertising’s Open Perspectives virtual discussion on Sustainable Advertising, examining how brands can incorporate sustainable advertising to their media plans, looking at the planning process and the impact on daily business. You can register to the event here.

Finally, Anna Lungley will also be joining other sustainability and marketing leaders to shine a ligth on Marketing’s Carbon Footprint and the lessons we have learned in the last 12 months about using media and marketing communications to make a difference. Find out more here.

Haymarket Media Group

When asked about the importance of Earth Day and what they are doing to celebrate, Haymarket’s Chief Executive, Kevin Costello, said:

“At Haymarket, sustainability is at the forefront of every decision we make. We all have a responsibility in reducing our carbon footprint and becoming net zero by 2030. Working in the advertising and media sector, we recognise our brands also have a role to play in influencing the wider sustainability agenda. 

Since joining Ad Net Zero last September, we worked with a third party to carry out our first-ever global sustainability audit, scoring in the top 21% within our industry. And in the UK we now have a full measurement of our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions against which we can tangibly measure our progress year on year.

Tackling climate change is a defining issue for our industry and we are committed to being certified carbon neutral in 2023.“

IPG Mediabrands

IPG Mediabrands has organized a series of activities for its staff during Earth Day week. Some of their events include:

• A fun quiz on all kinds of things to do with our earth.
• A screening of Good Life 2030.
• A bar night with sustainable cocktails.

Moreover, Rapport will also be joining in with Purpose Disruptors #Changethebrief day, where they will encourage those within Mediabrands with access to the platform to set aside two hours for dedicated learning, in line with other members of the #Changethebrief alliance.

isla

Sustainability body isla is launching, in celebration of Earth Day, a purpose-built carbon measurement platform dedicated to the event industry.

The platform,  called TRACE, has been developed by event experts to give insight into the environmental impact of event operations. The tool, which was designed to be used by event agencies, exhibition organisers, brands and in-house teams, captures and reports emission and waste date from live, hybrid and digital events.

You can register for a TRACE weekly demonstration and learn more about the tool here!

Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe UK’s internal event ‘Inclusion UK presents: Invest in our planet’ will explain what sustainability and ESG means and then signpost to GRETA (the name of the EAG – Green Targets and Actions).

This 45 minute session will be facilitated by Publicis Groupe UK’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion – Kate Williams. Clare Donald, as Executive sponsor of this work, will be in charge of introducing the event.  Kathleen Enright, Managing Direcotr of Salter Baxter – Publicis Groupe’s Sustainability Consultancy – will then give  a presentation on demystifying sustainability and actions we can all take. The event will finalise with a talk on sustainability training, while making the ask to join GRETA and a small Q&A.

The objective of this event is to provide support for GRETA with ongoing actions – including further awareness raising events and initiatives.

Royal Mail

For Earth Day 2022 Royal Mail confirms its recognition of the need to act, innovate, and implement actions to further climate action.

Act boldly:  Royal Mail is implementing ambitious plans to decarbonise its delivery fleet.  From 1^st April this year Royal Mail’s electricity will be 100% renewable, without nuclear.  This year Royal Mail has the largest electric delivery fleet in the UK, with 1,605 vehicles and a further 1,741 in deployment to Summer 2022.  This time next year they will have over 5,500 electric vehicles delivering mail across the UK.

Innovate broadly:  Royal Mail have undertaken a range of trials this year aimed at reducing emissions in transporting and delivering post.  This year these have included drones, micro vehicles and ways to support the UK’s largest “Feet on the Street” network of over 85,000 postmen and women. delivering post on foot each day.  Royal Mail already has the lowest reported CO₂e emissions per parcel amongst major UK delivery companies. They will continue to trial new vehicles and new ways of working to reduce our footprint.

• Royal Mail and Ford partnered to trial a more sustainable, city-friendly approach to parcel delivery in Manchester.   Ford’s software enabled Royal Mail to use fewer vans for delivery in the trial area.  During the trial, van usage for the delivery routes involved, decreased by 50 per cent, whilst daily vehicle mileage decreased by 33 per cent, resulting in a reduction in CO₂e emissions per parcel.
• Royal Mail is taking the first steps towards the Company’s goal of developing permanent lower emission Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) delivery solutions for remote communities.  The Company is trialling scheduled, autonomous UAV flights with Windracers Ltd for two weeks between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay (both in the Orkney Islands) to help better connect the islands.  The trial will look at how this technology can be used to provide both more reliable and lower emission connections.  This is the third drone trial that Royal Mail has taken part in over the last year.
• Royal Mail is trialling twelve ‘micro’ electric vehicles across five UK towns and cities, as part of the Company’s drive to further reduce emissions associated with its operations.  Focusing on two different models, the trial will assess their suitability as a lower carbon alternative to regular-sized vans.  Roughly the size of a golf buggy or a quad bike the vehicles are designed to carry a typical-sized load of letters and small parcels in residential areas.  The fully electric vehicles emit zero tailpipe CO₂e emissions and have a range of between 70 – 90 miles in a single charge.

Implement equitably: Royal Mail will report on its full profile of emissions for the first time this year, detailing the impact of its supply chain.  This is in efforts to catalyse meaningful carbon reductions outside its own operations in the coming years.

STV

STV is the most-watched commercial channel in Scotland. They launched their sustainability initiative, STV Zero, in 2021 with the headline goal of becoming carbon net zero by 2030 and Earth Day 2022 has provided a key moment to reflect on their journey.

One of the first steps on their net zero mission was achieving carbon neutrality. So to celebrate official certification as a CarbonNeutral® company, STV are running an on-air promo campaign for Earth Day 2022. The attention-grabbing promos see the STV Weather team, Sean Batty and Philip Petrie, broadcasting from around 30 years in the future. Future Sean and Philip (looking slightly greyer and more wrinkled!) thank the people of the past for all the everyday changes they made to look after our planet.This external campaign has been coupled with the launch of an internal STV Zero campaign, urging all colleagues to “Be an STV Zero hero” and make sustainable changes to how they work and travel. Stickers, GIFs and digital displays are being used to highlight the environmental impact of daily habits like switching off lights, printing and charging devices. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness and really embed sustainability in STV culture.  You can check out the campaign here.

You can find out more about STV Zero here!

Tag

TAG are committed to being environmentally conscious when building solutions. They regard Earth Day as an opportunity to drive this message home even harder, with engaging and educational content that shifts behaviours and mindsets to support a greener future.

To engage their employees, they’ve activated a 30-day global countdown to Earth Day, sharing tips and tricks across the regions to reduce individual emissions. By sharing facts about the money and energy you can save by powering off devices, to the impact eating less meat can have on your carbon footprint, their staff have been encouraged to implement small changes in their daily lives that make a meaningful difference to the wider community.

TAG’s Test Kitchen team in Canada have also created a 5-day plan of simple, tasty vegan meals, and its Americas Green Team mailed seedlings to employees to plant in their gardens or communities.  Their L&D team curated training resources to further educate employees on how food choices not only affect your health, but the health of the planet, as well as ways to reduce household food waste.

In EMEA and APAC, the WWF Carbon Footprint Survey was circulated in weekly Earth Day newsletters, where employees logged their results at the start of the 30-day challenge and at the end, which resulted in a collective carbon footprint reduction. Tag employees are encouraged to take advantage of additional paid time off for volunteering to support a worthy cause. This April, many colleagues took positive Earth Day action and got involved in clean-ups.

WPP

WPP is celebrating Earth Day by spotlighting relevant work and thinking on their social channels. Moreover, it will launch a hub focusing on climate change and biodiversity on its website.

Follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube to not miss a thing!

And… what about us?

For us, Earth Day is everyday. Our climate action initiative, Ad Net Zero, was launched in response to the climate emergency. A little bit more about Ad Net Zero:

Acknowledging the need for advertising as a sector to respond to the urgency and scale of the climate crisis caused by CO2 emissions, the Advertising Association’s Climate Action Group produced a report and recommendations for cross-industry action in November 2020 to be taken forward under the umbrella of the Ad Net Zero initiative.

Concern over the issue is shared across the advertising sector by individuals and companies alike. Some 71% of people working across the industry are worried about the negative impacts of the industry on the environment; more want their agencies to take climate action.

Many agencies and companies across the industry have taken their own steps to work more sustainably. New policies and commitments are being announced by firms large and small all the time. But more needs to be done collectively.

People across the sector want advertising to be part of the solution to the climate crisis, through the role it can play in influencing corporate policy and consumer behaviour, helping people make more sustainable choices in what they buy, use, and do. 91% agree that knowing their organisation is taking climate action would improve their job satisfaction.

Ad Net Zero was established to provide focus for this necessary collaboration. Working together, the supporters will drive carbon-curbing policies throughout the advertising eco-system and will strengthen and extend the sector’s response to a shared challenge.

Find out more about Ad Net Zero here.