Contents
- Ad Net Zero partners with Cannes Lions for this year’s awards.
- Ad Net Zero will announce Global Media Sustainability Framework
- Ad Net Zero partners with Kantar for behaviour change tracking initiative
- Ad Net Zero launches Europe Hub
- Ad Net Zero confirms launch plans for Ad Net Zero Australia
- Progress against the Ad Net Zero Action Plan
- Sustainable Advertising book update
1: Ad Net Zero partners with Cannes Lions for this year’s awards.
Ad Net Zero, a global climate action programme to help the advertising industry tackle the climate emergency, has partnered with Cannes Lions this year to further embed sustainability into their awards programme.
This year, entrants had the opportunity to include sustainability information with their entry submission and for this information to contribute towards the Jury discussion.
The goal is to encourage more entrants to show their progress, as well as ignite conversations among jurors and help them think about sustainability in a new light. The move comes after Cannes Lions’ inaugural sustainability report showed that 3.6% of entries contained information about sustainability efforts and emissions metrics.
Sebastian Munden, Ad Net Zero chair and co-author of Sustainable Advertising, said: “Winning a Cannes Lions is worth its weight in gold – but let’s not forget that in order to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy, it is vital that the winning work is not just deemed the best for their clients’ profits, but also for the environment.”
The Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards, now open for entries, judge all work by the dual criteria of creative excellence and sustainability. More information available here.
2. Ad Net Zero will announce Global Media Sustainability Framework
Ad Net Zero (ANZ) will publish on Monday 17th June the first iteration of its Global Media Sustainability Framework – a series of voluntary industry standards to improve consistent, comparable measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from digital, television, print, audio, outdoor, and cinema channels. The new framework has been supported by a collection of the world’s largest advertisers, as well as the world’s 6 largest advertising holding companies, major media owners, tech companies and trade bodies, many of whom have contributed to its development.
The goal is to help every advertiser and their partners understand and take positive action to reduce the carbon impact of their media plans – in line with Action 3 of the ANZ Action Plan.
Up until now, there has been no consistent, agreed industry-wide measurement framework.
Full details will be made available here on Monday.
3: Ad Net Zero partners with Kantar for behaviour change tracking initiative
Sebastian Munden, Ad Net Zero chair and co-author of Sustainable Advertising, will announce at Cannes Lions a new partnership with Kantar as part of efforts to harness the industry’s power to effect behaviour change at scale.
The Sustainable Behaviours Advertising Tracker is a project between the Advertising Association, Ad Net Zero and Kantar to deliver a new regular report, based on work underway by Ad Net Zero under Action 5 of its action plan.
The new report will provide a quarterly and annual review of how and where sustainable behaviours feature within advertising campaigns. It will provide a new level of insights to the advertising industry, with benchmarks across categories for the portrayal of more sustainable behaviours.
Of this partnership, Sebastian said: “Ad Net Zero set out to change the way we work and change the work we make. It is imperative that we leverage the industry’s super-power to break down the cultural barriers that prohibit widespread climate action and promote more sustainable choices and behaviours in advertising. This partnership will not only allow us to call out great creative for a great cause, but measure its effectiveness and track behaviour changes too.”
Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner of Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice, added: “The IPCC and Project Drawdown have clearly identified the consumer behaviour changes that we need to see in order to help hit our net zero goals. Normalising sustainable lifestyles and behaviours through advertising is central to achieving these goals, and so Kantar is delighted to be partnering with Ad Net Zero to provide the missing measurement via our advertising database.”
4: Ad Net Zero launches Europe Hub
Ad Net Zero has announced the opening of a Europe Hub, with full-time staff, equipped to support the formation of new Ad Net Zero chapters across Europe. It has been established in collaboration with the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), the voice of Europe’s communications agencies and associations, to share resources and tools widely from the climate action programme. Any European countries looking for help and support to accelerate their industry’s decarbonisation and the effective promotion of sustainable products, services and behaviours should get in touch via their national trade association(s) to join the climate action initiative.
At launch, commitments for new chapters come from Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Italy, and Slovakia, with support from major trade associations such as EACA, IAB Europe, FEDMA, EGTA, EPC, and the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers). In France, there already exists a series of programs in different sectors, closely aligned with the Ad Net Zero action plan and we have a good working relationship, sharing solutions and approaches.
The launch of the Europe Hub follows the launch of the US chapter in Feb 2023, and the original chapter formed in the UK in Nov 2020, with will run alongside chapters in Ireland, New Zealand, and the UAE. In total, the ANZ supporter base now covers an estimated 49% of the world’s ad spend.
Sebastian Munden, Chair of ANZ, said: “We are pleased to see the launch of the Europe Hub that will serve the industry’s drive to a more sustainable future across the region. Europe is a key region for the industry, and at the forefront of the transition to a more sustainable economy and ways of living. We believe advertising can and must play a significant, positive role in making the changes we need to see happen everywhere, to frame and help build a more sustainable future.”
Tamara Daltroff, CEO, European Association of Communications Agencies, said: “EACA is delighted to be part of the newly formed Ad Net Zero Europe Hub. We have strongly advocated for it as it is high time for all of us to collaborate and align more – advertisers, media agencies, creative, digital, production, out-of-home, broadcast, and publishing – and cross-country across the region. At EACA, we welcome all collaboration efforts from across every country chapter and look forward to working with our colleagues and partners in other markets to progress on the important topic of sustainability.”
5: Ad Net Zero confirms launch plans for Ad Net Zero Australia
Leading Australian industry organisations have joined forces to launch the Australia Chapter of Ad Net zero in 2024. This significant collaboration aims to foster innovation, promote best practices, and apply globally developed principles and frameworks to the local marketing, media, and advertising landscape. With the support and commitment from top organizations across agencies, vendors, platforms and advertisers, Ad Net Zero Australia is set to launch in early October 2024.
Sebastian Munden, Chair of Ad Net Zero, said: “As is demonstrated with the announcement of an upcoming Australian chapter, the Ad Net Zero team are ready to work with all new markets looking to set up an Ad Net Zero Chapter and help fast track their market’s journey to net zero.”
6: Progress against the Ad Net Zero Action plan
Against each point of the Ad Net Zero action plan, there is an immediate and practical path to progress.
From step-by-step immediate action guides, to measurement frameworks and the Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards, the tools, resources and inspiration to measure emissions and transform business practices are now accessible through the programme.
Action 1: Reduce Emissions from Advertising Business Operations
In order to drive the industry towards a Paris-aligned net zero transition and keep up with a tightening regulatory environment, the advertising ecosystem in its entirety must urgently begin reporting and working towards credible net zero transitions. This is why, after last year’s announcement at Cannes Lions, Ad Net Zero supporters, at a global and at a national level, are now required to set a public science-based net zero target. Targets will need to be created within 12 months if not already in place and Ad Net Zero will provide guidance to help supporters set, measure and report.
Ad Net Zero has created an Action 1 Guide to help supporters make progress in this area. Find the guide here on the Ad Net Zero Resources Hub.
Action 2: Reduce Emissions from Advertising Production
The AdGreen 2024 Review:
The new AdGreen review has further illuminated the source of emissions from production:
- 60.2% of all emissions recorded by users were attributed to air travel
- There was a 1.5 tCO2e increase in emissions in the average project size, compared to 2022, jumping to 6.2 tCO2e
- The average project size for productions with a budget over £50,000 per shoot day rose to 13.9 tCO2e, from 12.8 tCO2e
- 1424 projects were completed in 2023, almost triple compared to 2022
- Project sizes ranged from 0kg to 397.4 tCO2e
The publication of this data comes at time of substantial development for the AdGreen carbon calculator. Large scale upgrades to the design aim to further guide users through the measurement and reduction process, and improve ease of use, while providing AdGreen with the capability to support worldwide adoption by the production community.
The upcoming iteration of AdGreen’s measurement tool will feature a fully reviewed and updated carbon emissions framework, developed with the support of PWC, and in collaboration with GARM to ensure alignment with the measurement methodology of the media sector.
Hard Drive Use Best Practice
In addition to continuing to drive measurement of advertising production, leading international industry trade bodies unite with Ad Net Zero, Green the Bid and AdGreen in endorsement of new hard drive use best practice.
In a first-of-its-kind response to the advertising industry’s need to decarbonise, Ad Net Zero has convened the 4A’s, Ad Association, AICP, ANA, AOP, APA, IPA, and ISBA, who have all jointly announced support for the adoption of best practices to encourage production hard drive reuse over single use. The guidance aims to significantly reduce carbon emissions in production and lessen the burden on natural resources implicit in excessive hard drive usage. Find the document and details here.
Action 3: Reduce Emissions from Media Planning and Buying
Ad Net Zero has partnered with GARM to create a global framework for measuring the emissions from 6 key media channels. A further announcement about this will be made on Monday June 17th.
Action 4: Reduce Advertising Emissions through Awards and from Events
Decarbonising Awards:
Ad Net Zero has partnered with Cannes Lions this year to further embed sustainability into their awards programme. See section 1 above for further details.
Decarbonising Events:
Ad Net Zero and Action 4 group members in the US have partnered with isla – a non-profit organisation founded by event professionals and industry leaders focusing on a sustainable future for events – on a new Sustainable Events Starter Guide for helping event professionals and company leadership better understand and implement sustainability best practices at events and lower the carbon footprint. You can view the guide here.
Action 5: Harness Advertising’s Power to Support Behaviour Change
As well as the Kantar partnership (announced above) to track the representation of sustainable behaviours within advertising campaigns, the Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards, now in the 3rd year, are an increasingly important lever for championing sustainability successes within the industry. The awards are now open for entry, with a deadline of July 18th. See here for details.
7: Sustainable Advertising book update
Sustainable Advertising co-authors, Sebastian Munden and Matt Bourn, are in Cannes this week to share the latest thinking from their new book which is a manifesto for the world’s advertising industry – a case for change globally, to change the way we work and to change the work we make.
Born from Ad Net Zero’s single-minded ambition – to make every ad a sustainable ad – Sustainable Advertising, published by Kogan Page on March 3, 2024, arms the industry with the expertise needed to make every ad sustainable: from the way it is made, and the way it is distributed, to the very product, service and behaviour it promotes.
This groundbreaking book delves into the insights and tools across the industry in a global effort to decarbonise rapidly and help support a sustainable future. With best-in-class case studies and practical guidance, Bourn and Munden outline the key steps that agencies, brands, media owners, tech platforms, and individuals can take to reduce their environmental impact.
Ad Net Zero supporters can get a 20% discount on the book. Click here to redeem with code ADNETZERO.
