2022 in Retrospect: Did Adland Match Its Sustainability Promises

“Meeting global climate goals will require rapid transformation of societies. Incremental change is no longer an option. Wide-ranging, large-scale and systemic transformation is now needed.”

This was a statement from the latest UNEP Emissions Gap report that perfectly encompassed and, in a way, backed up the majority of sustainability and environmental talks held across adland in the past year. Two years after the start of Ad Net Zero in the UK and its subsequently established chapter in the US, and a year after Purpose Disruptors launched their Good Life 2030 project – both efforts of the advertising world to tackle the damage it has done to the environment and finally stop it – what has really changed? 2022 can arguably be looked at as the year a lot of people woke up to the true scope of the climate emergency, and although by no means is the entire world aware of the catastrophic events that are to unravel if we do not take action now, various industries, have taken part in trying to help to various extents. It can also be looked at as the year when unbearable heat set parts of London on fire during the summer, Pakistan suffered devastating floods and Australia had to wrestle with a plethora of environmental disasters. Undoubtedly, the advertising and marketing industry has taken a look at itself and its own due diligence in the crisis, it has welcomed some interrogation and has self-evaluated, repeatedly. But what now? Just before Christmas bells start ringing and the New Year provides a new list of resolutions – regardless if the past ones have been ticked off – we want to know, has the advertising world risen up to the challenge that it set up for itself? Has change been really made?

Alison Pepper, EVP Government Relations and Sustainability at the 4A’s, believes that there is a debate to be held, but one thing stands true – 2022 will ‘likely be looked back upon as a baseline year for when real change began.’ She continues, “And real change begins with understanding where you’re standing from, and charting a course to where you’re trying to get to. In adland, this has meant that more and more agencies, advertisers, publishers, platforms and ad tech companies have worked to understand and establish their own carbon footprints and disclose them publicly.” It is true, though, that carbon footprints are not the only metric by which success or failure should be measured in this discussion. To Alison it is also worth noting that accounting and disclosure of carbon footprints is just the first step in achieving the ultimate goal – reduction in emissions.

The Ad Net Zero Global summit in 2022 made it clear that pressure from consumers, from employees, and from governments is the three-legged table that can lift up the efforts adland is willing to put in. “Already, adland is seeing all these pressures, increasingly so from governments, to not only disclose, but start setting targets for reduction,” says Alison. “The path forward will not be easy, as even the first step of simple disclosure is not without its difficulties, but it will happen, and 2022 will likely be looked back upon as the year adland collectively started making progress.”