Today marks the one year anniversary of the creation of Ad Net Zero, the UK advertising industry’s initiative to help respond to the climate crisis caused by CO2 emissions. Made up of 70 leading companies from across the UK advertising industry, Ad Net Zero is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from their operations by the end of  2030. To mark the one year anniversary of its creation, Ad Net Zero will be holding a 2-day Global Summit to help accelerate the industry toward this target.

This summit will take place on November 3rd and 4th live from Glasgow at the same time as COP26 when the world’s leaders gather to look at measures needed to tackle the challenge of climate change. The event will be free to attend for any advertising professional from around the world and will provide inspirational content through thought leadership sessions and practical workshops.

The Summit will be delivered live from STV’s HQ in Glasgow, the free-to-air Scotish Television Network and will also be available to watch online. Attendees will be able to hear from leaders from companies such as Unilever, Mastercard, Pepsico and Facebook as well as international trade bodies such as the World Federation of Advertisers, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority and isla, and several other global advertising authorities. 

“The goal of the Summit is to help equip every advertising professional, from brands, agencies, media owners and tech platforms, to understand the role they can play day-to-day to support the world-wide industry effort to shift to a more sustainable way of operating.” explained Sebastian Munden, Chair of Ad Net Zero and EVP and General Manager, Unilever UK & Ireland, “Every attendee will be asked to make a commitment to changing the way they work and, wherever possible, that the work they make helps to ensure the advertising industry, in the UK and internationally, does everything it can to address the climate emergency.”

On the first day of the summit the ambitions of Ad Net Zero will be laid out and there will be discussion around the system change needed in the world’s advertising industry to reflect the changes necessary across business and society to tackle the climate emergency. Themes to be explored include what is meant by sustainable leadership in advertising, the role of marketing to be a force for positive change and the ways we can tackle greenwashing in advertising.

In addition to the summit, Ad Net Zero will be launching its first training qualification for advertising professionals to fully equip people with the understanding to take responsibility for the carbon emissions related to the operations of advertising work day-to-day, as well as consider the role their work plays in promoting sustainable products and services. The training will be available online to all ad professionals, in the UK and internationally, via the IPA’s globally recognised CPD platform and will be available to the industry later this year.

“To accelerate the system change we need to make right through the advertising supply chain, we have been working hard and fast to bring the industry’s first training qualification and Best Practice Guide to market.” explained Paul Bainsfair, Director General, IPA “As we near the completion of the first year of a decade of essential change for our industry, these actions are central as we help everyone who works in advertising to focus the industry’s huge influence on promoting a more sustainable way of living.”

Ad Net Zero is headed in the UK by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA and chaired by Unilever. During the course of 2021, Ad Net Zero supporters have contributed to the development of a Best Practice Guide for all businesses in the advertising supply chain to help track, measure and reduce their carbon emissions. The Global Summit is being funded by the Ad Net Zero supporter base which as of September 2021 has 70 organisations representing the broad spectrum of the UK advertising industry, many of whom are also exploring how to accelerate positive action in international territories.

The Global Summit is free-to-attend for all advertising professionals and will serve as an opportunity to drive system change forward within the ad industry in the hopes of making significant steps toward tackling climate change. Register for the summit online here.