Confronting AdNetZero on its failure to tackle high-carbon ads
Protests against ad agencies’ ties with fossil fuel companies at the AdNetZero Awards ceremony in London - 17 November 2022
Since 2020, the UK Advertising Association’s AdNetZero (ANZ) platform has hosted a yearly gathering, taking place around the same time of UN COP summits, for advertising and marketing professionals to discuss strategies, share tips and case studies on how to shift their industry to Net Zero. At first glance, it appears as if the industry has a solid plan to decarbonise their sector. But by deflecting attention to their supply-side emissions - from offices, business travel, and the production and placement of adverts - the initiative successfully omits the largest bulk of emissions associated with the uplift in sales generated by advertising, the core nature of advertisers’ business. Following the summit, the Campaign magazine hosted the ANZ awards to celebrate the agencies winning in different categories. Amidst the glitz, glam and congratulations, campaigners stood outside the venue calling on ad agencies like Interpublic (Aramco), WPP (Shell, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron), Ogilvy (Shell, PB) to stop greenwashing major polluters.
At Badvertising, we are not fools of advertisers’ tools to shine a green light on their business model while still pandering to the interests of big polluters. With other colleagues, we recently wrote to the UK Secretary of State for Digital, Media and Culture urging the Government to introduce regulation to tackle high-carbon advertising which would commit adland to urgently tackle the emissions associated with the sales of products and services that advertising generates by taking action to remove high-carbon clients from their portfolio.
AdNetZero’s willful omission
We’ve already discussed the obvious flaws of AdNetZero in this blog in which we provide a critical overview of adland’s main climate initiatives. As detailed in the review, we consider the overall premise of Ad Net Zero, despite coining itself ‘advertising’s response to the climate crisis’, to be deeply flawed and insufficient. The programme is organised around 5 main actions which mainly concern the operational emissions tied to advertising (travel, production, media buying and planning, events and awards) as well as the promotion of ‘sustainable behaviour change’ by working with brands to design ‘sustainable briefs’ ie. transitioning these industries towards promoting ‘greener stuff’.
However, none of these measures tackle the indirect emissions generated by the extra sales induced from advertising (or what is referred to in climate lingo as ‘scope 3 emissions’). According to research from industry change-makers Purpose Disruptors, these so-called ‘advertised emissions’ represent the greatest bulk of the carbon emissions associated with the profession. In 2019, these were calculated to be around 186 million tonnes of CO2e, 186 times larger than estimated total UK agency operational CO2e emissions, and the equivalent of adding an extra 28% carbon footprint to every citizen in the country. The latest figures from the insider collective are even more alarming as advertised emissions are forecasted to reach 208 million tonnes of CO2e by the end of 2022, representing an 11% increase from 2019 to 2022 - the equivalent to adding an extra 32% to UK residents’ carbon footprint.
Why is this glaringly obvious bulk of advertising’s climate impact being omitted from AdNetZero and other ad industry climate initiatives? If ‘advertised emissions’ are nowhere near being measured, challenged, or addressed is because they represent the very essence of advertising’s purpose. A fact which some ad agencies’ directors seem to be quite aware of. At a side panel event during COP27 in Egypt, Solitaire Townsend, Director of ‘climate-conscious’ ad agency Futerra, expressed concerns that if none of the big ad agencies had released ‘client disclosure reports’ yet - something that is now required as part of the UN ‘Race to Zero’ guidance - it may well be because they have something to hide from the public.
ANZ Global Summit - a lot of ‘empty words’
AdNetZero (ANZ) ‘Global Summit’ is, in summary, the official rendez-vous for all the ad agencies, media companies and PR firms who signed onto the ANZ pledge. The Summit largely functions as an opportunity for ANZ organisations to shine their supposed green credentials and congratulate themselves on the ambitions and progress made in driving sustainability within the sector. This year, the two-day gathering set in an opulent venue in London included talks from advertising ‘big bosses’ who were all very adamant about the positive role that advertising can play in the world. But despite recognition across the board that the industry has a role, and indeed responsibility, to play in driving sustainable change, these promises will keep ringing hollow as long as the ad industry is serving the interests of big polluters by boosting product sales or greenwashing their image.
“…our industry has enormous power to make real changes that can impact our world in a positive way - Jemma Gould, VP, chief sustainability officer, IPG
A lot more empty words and promises were made from industry leaders whose companies have nothing to boast about in terms of sustainability standards. Amongst them were Mark Whelan, chairman and CCO of Havas UK, an ad agency whose clients include several oil and gas majors such as BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil: “It’s about normalising sustainable behaviours, so it’s part of everyday life” .
“Sustainability should be a growth mindset, not a short term practice.” - Aisling Ryan, managing partner sustainability at Ogilvy Consulting (Ogilvy clients include BP, BP Australia, Shell Myanmar etc.)
Beyond the usual non-committal ‘blabla’ churned out at the event, the issue of ‘greenwashing’ was brought up by representatives of the Competitions and Market Authority and the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA also quoted a recently upheld complaint regarding greenwashing adverts for HSCB as a clear landmark in greenwash regulation - a “victory” that was rather accomplished thanks to the tireless efforts of campaigners at AdfreeCities. This apparent contradiction in terms, where greenwash was framed as an issue to tackle while similarly sitting on a platform serving as a green front for the ad industry, didn’t seem to register with the AdNetZero congregation.
“This is the deciding decade. It should be everybody’s day job - wherever you are in the industry - whether or not your role is directly related to sustainability.” - Sergio Lopez, global head of production at Publicis Groupe (clients include Aramco, Totalenergies, Shell etc.)
Media agencies were also present at the event with the Guardian’s director of sustainability and the director of advertising giving a short presentation on their work and the success of their fossil ad ban. Disappointingly, when asked at the Q&A whether the British newspaper would go further on their ban and include other high-carbon sectors to the list of excluded categories (which currently only fossil fuel companies), they deflected the question by stressing their role in working with companies to transition their business.
Swimming against the tide: cities across the world are banning high carbon ads
The Swedish capital of Stockholm is the latest city to join a growing string of local authorities in the Netherlands, the UK and Australia that are signalling a will to ban high-carbon advertising. While the movement keeps growing at the international level, more public calls from mainstream authorities are being heard on the need to urgently regulate the promotion of high-carbon goods and services as a necessary measure to reduce carbon emissions and meet pressing climate targets. At COP27, none other than the Director of Public Health at the World Health Organisation endorsed a tobacco-style ban on fossil advertising.
In the UK, a recent House of Lords’ report on the environment, climate and behaviour change recommended that the Government regulate advertising for high carbon and environmentally-damaging products. Furthermore, as our own research suggests, public opinion in the UK is strongly in favour of a ban on high-carbon ads with 68% of UK adults believing that advertising for environmentally-harmful products should be restricted.
Dissenting voices are being raised in the advertising industry talking about harnessing the power of advertising for good and using the huge power they wield in society to drive sustainable behaviour change.
“The industry that we work in really does have the power to encourage people to lead low-carbon lifestyles and we have to seize the opportunity to do it.” Imogen Fox - The Guardian’s director of advertising
But there remains a giant gap between words and action from adland recognising its part in driving climate-harmful consumption to actually playing a positive role for the climate, especially when it comes to advertising’s huge responsibility in sustaining the growth-fuelled engine of global capitalism.
One concern is a focus on tools to measure carbon emissions, which risks deflecting attention and delaying meaningful action to reduce emissions. In the rare cases that these are used to measure the emissions generated from advertising’s uplift in sales (as opposed to simply emissions from, for example, advert production), isn’t there a risk to detract from the main issue, ie. screening out high-carbon clients from portfolios?
Purpose Disruptors state that in order to answer the scale of the challenge, ad agencies need to push for stringent Government regulation on high-carbon advertising. We agree. We cannot simply rely on the goodwill of companies to do the right thing and drop briefs from high-carbon clients. But those currently working in those industries that are still helping to promote big polluters’ agenda should be organising internally to call out these practices - as many brave young creatives are doing.
Mainstream climate initiatives like AdNetZero have a huge responsibility to play by including scope 3 emissions into their remit and talking openly about high-carbon industries.
Pressure will need to come from all sides for adland to eventually come clean and drop high-carbon clients, starting with the most obvious sectors: fossil fuel giants, carmakers and airlines but also fast fashion, holiday-makers and meat.