Mark Read at WPP, Mat Goff at adam&eveDDB, Chris Hirst at Havas, Debbie Klein at Sky, and Alan Jope at Unilever are among the industry leaders putting their weight behind a new environmental standard for advertising production.
The Advertising Association is leading the charge through its Climate Action Working Group, and — along with ISBA and the IPA (and in partnership with BAFTA) — is launching AdGreen, an initiative to eliminate the negative environmental impacts of production.
AdGreen has two aims: to measure the carbon footprints of all aspects of advertising production, and to use the information to help the industry to reduce emissions. There’s a carbon footprint calculator and specialist training on offer, with a certification system in the pipeline for those who meet the standard.
Stephen Woodford, Advertising Association CEO, said: “We are determined our industry does everything in its power to respond to the climate emergency. AdGreen will make it possible for anyone producing ads to be confident they can do it in a way that does not impact on the climate – a fundamental change that we have to all make now. Our thanks go to all our founding partners for providing the funding to make this happen.”
Chris Hirst, global CEO of Havas Creative, said: “The AdGreen initiative is such an important step forward. Without the full picture of the extent of our industry’s carbon footprint, we can’t truly begin to address how we collectively reduce it. This isn’t about a single business or group, the data we gather in this project will give us that picture, and in turn, help us play our part in solving one of the biggest challenges facing us all.”
