Ad Net Zero’s third year at Climate Week NY demonstrated continued momentum, both for the sustainability movement and for communications, marketing and entertainment becoming more a part of the conversation and consciousness. In a year with sustainability and the economy facing significant headwinds, we really weren’t sure what the year would hold but it was encouraging to see a continued move toward the business necessity of sustainability.
In this post we share details of Ad Net Zero’s program, highlights, and our five takeaways across the week.
Ad Net Zero’s program at Climate Week NY 2025:
Monday:
- The Climate Group Opening Ceremony and The Hub Live where supporter L’Oreal spoke to their actions, among other panels.
- Then on to Meta Monday Innovative Collaborations for Climate Action where Ad Net Zero’s John Osborn and L’Oreal North America Chief Sustainability Officer Marissa McGowan spoke on the ‘Decarbonizing Advertising’ panel moderated by Meta’s Christy Cooper.
Tuesday:
- Second day of The Climate Group Hub Live where, among other panels, the Estee Lauder Chief Sustainability Officer mentioned the significance of advertising’s emissions as part of their work to understand scope 3 emissions.
- Then on to Futerra Solutions House for their ‘Solutions on Screen’ afternoon highlighting a number of innovative conversations on how entertainment, creative and production conversations are driving action.
Wednesday:
- We collaborated with the United Nations Global Compact, Kantar and the ANA on a half-day CMO Action Lab workshop, focused on bringing to life the UNGC’s CMO Blueprint for Sustainable Growth released summer 2025, helping all senior marketers understand how to integrate sustainability to drive stronger business growth. The session shared new research from Kantar and featured an hour-long solution-oriented roundtable segment where tables were asked to select a core challenge, identify barriers, and select the most practical solutions.
- In the afternoon, New Zero World / EPIC hosted a hands-on Creators Workshop.
- And we attended the SLR DIMPACT+ panel on the impact of content, featuring sustainability leaders from Spotify and the BBC.
Thursday:
- Ad Net Zero chair Sebastian Munden participated in the EPIC, Kantar and IAA Green Consumer Marketing Leader Roundtable.
- Ad Net Zero closed out the Nest Climate Campus with the final mainstage event, focused on how advertising is the overlooked ally. The session was moderated by Sebastian Munden, and featured Freya Williams of Revolt and Chris Moscardi of New Zero World / EPIC.
- Freya spoke to the ground-breaking research of ‘Cost of Silence‘ and ‘Poking the Bear‘ demonstrating proven business gains and loses as a result of how companies speak out around sustainability efforts, and what language cuts across dividing lines.
- Chris spoke to EPIC’s research also around language, demonstrating that a wellbeing focus is and the new Health & Wellbeing Blueprint which gives detailed guidance on implementing this narrative.
Our top five takeaways across the week:
1. The headline: Not only was there optimism, but there are real solutions in place. Action is progressing and definitely taking further root in business strategy.
There was actually very little conversation about pushing against headwinds. As sustainability matures, it’s about finding ways around – ROI, and language that truly can find common ground in a highly polarized world. 🫶
ROI – Marissa McGowan on the Meta Monday panel with Christy Cooper and John Osborn shared L’Oreal’s digital asset optimization that reduced emissions and actually drove increase in performance due to faster load times. (She showed both – the audience couldn’t guess the optimized one!)
Language – Sebastian Munden’s mainstage The Nest Climate Campus with Freya Williams of Revolt (Poking the Bear / Hugging the Bear) and Christopher Moscardi of Earth Public Information Collaborative (Health & Wellness Blueprint) was one of the best conversations around this – stay tuned for the full conversation!
And shout-out to Futerra’s Solutions House for continuing to grow a community focused on optimism and some of the most exciting solutions.
2. Real progress can’t happen without collaboration. This has become cliche, but we can return meaning to it! Nearly every conversation demonstrated this – brands talking about engaging their supply chain, corporations partnering with local communities who are critical in stewarding natural resources but can’t do it on their own.
3. Decarbonization as table stakes, and moving beyond. Leading companies have comprehensive programs focusing on water (big theme), regen ag – these are connected to *every* business, regardless of industry.
Some particularly impactful soundbites:
“Without thriving ecosystems, we can’t have a thriving business.” – Michael Alexander, Head of Water, Environment & Agriculture Sustainability at Diageo.
“Too much on climate change, and not enough about earth as a system.” – Danielle Mulder, Head of Sustainability at BBC.
4. The energy progress continues. The growth of clean energy seems unhindered and is still experiencing significantly more investment. This was an undercurrent and driver of optimism. Omnipresent; didn’t need to be a focus.
5. Desire for more real talk. While panels dominated, there was an increase in action-oriented roundtables and Chatham House forums. Desire expressed for more of this in the future.
The CMO Action Lab hosted by United Nations Global Compact and Kantar, in partnership with Association of National Advertisers and Ad Net Zero was an excellent example of this, with an hour digging to the bottom of solutions. As was the CommPRO town hall.
Lastly, there are legitimate questions about CWNY as it gets bigger and more complex every year – the focus needs to be increasingly on connections that drive action, and ways to consolidate and collaborate.
