UK Ad Net Zero Leadership Breakfast: Identifying and closing the action gaps in the industry.

Last week, Ad Net Zero released its first annual report. By creating a baseline from which to measure future progress, we aim to hold ourselves and our stakeholders to account and drive climate action. 

In order to translate our findings into that action, driving the progress the science demands of us, we needed to take a step back and look at the advertising ecosystem we are operating in, and how the industry can address the action gaps that have appeared from the data.   

The UK Leadership Breakfast did exactly that. A packed-out room heard from industry leaders how they are approaching the challenges a journey to net zero can bring, as well as the results that can follow when organisations commit to action that both decarbonises their business and promotes sustainable products, services, and behaviours.   

Below is a summary of the issues brought to life and how our industry can tackle them.  

The climate problem is a commercial one.  

The morning began with a stark introduction from Sandy Trust, the lead author of The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios, which is a joint paper between actuaries and scientists at Exeter University. 

The paper highlights the fact that many commonly used economic models don’t capture climate change risks well, giving implausible results that show climate change never really impacts GDP, no matter how bad it gets. Science on the other hand, can’t rule out a near-future whereby 100% of GDP could be wiped out by climate change. 100%. Frightening.  

The solution is clear. Science and risk need to come together to communicate realistic risk assessment more clearly, which will help business leaders to incorporate this into their strategy and planning.  

The good news is that – as was discussed later in the morning – this is a language that CFOs understand. In order to impress upon the C-suite the urgency of climate action, the financial risks that climate change can bring need to be presented clearly. It will be overwhelmingly positive economically to mitigate climate change – and we all have a role to play in accelerating action. 

Viewing net zero through the client lens.  

Of course, along with tackling risk, there is an abundance of opportunity and reward for those companies embracing net zero practices. With 88% of advertisers in the ANZ supporter base already setting science-based targets, and the irreversible move towards incorporating scope 3 within company disclosure, the advertising world has the chance to carve out competitive advantage and establish themselves as the ultimate client-partner through the adoption of sustainable business practices.  

This is what clients want. They are now not only asking for agencies to show their decarbonisation plans. They’re now asking about their biodiversity strategy, whether they pay a living wage, and whether agencies are educating their employees on their individual footprint.  

The talent pipeline.  

 76% of UK employees say a company’s commitment to the environment is important to them when considering a new job. While expectations are constantly increasing by clients, these statistics show a similar rise in the expectations of talent. As Angela Tangas from dentsu pointed out in conversation with the AA’s Stephen Woodford, the ad industry has a persistent talent issue, both from a recruitment and retention perspective, thus demonstrating commitment to sustainability is now a core dimension for attracting and keeping the best people.   

Where ad effectiveness and behaviour change meet.

And it is these people that are integral creators of the work Ad Net Zero sets out to promote in Action 5, not only overturning how the work is made, but the work we make itself. Kate Waters took us through ITV’s new effectiveness report – The Greenprint – created in collaboration with System1, for sustainability campaigns and had some meaningful, tangible insights for driving change in their creative campaigns.

1. Suggest it don’t shout it – this could look like highlighting the benefits of sustainable behaviour without ever explicitly extolling the virtue of the action itself.
2. Making it really easy for people to change their behaviour can open the door to longer lasting behaviour change. This largely means meeting the audience where they are, not asking them to come to you.
3. Timing your campaign with natural moments of change, like new year, Veganuary, newlyweds etc.
4. Reframe and rebrand: As the eBay x Love Island campaign, one of the two Grand Prix winners from this year’s Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards, showed us, powerful results can come by positioning second-hand products as ‘pre-loved’ on their favourite influencers.

To view the full Greenprint report, click here.

 What you can do right now.  

Our speakers, despite the breadth of the expertise, united around one message. The scale of the climate challenge requires whole companies aligning their commercial aims with credible, science-based sustainability targets. As pointed out by Seb Munden, Chair of Ad Net Zero, 2024 will be a tipping point. While leaders must enact change for the better, it is also a business imperative to prioritise sustainability, considering regulatory changes and growing industry partner pressures. 

Ad Net Zero have practices and programmes for every step of your decarbonisation journey that you can begin using immediately.  

If you would like the ANZ team to present our report findings to your organisation, please do get in touch.  

 The full Ad Net Zero Annual Report 2023 is here.