The Guardian has begun plans to make its entire organisation certified in carbon literacy, starting with its advertising department.
Guardian Advertising’s senior leadership team, led by chief advertising officer, Imogen Fox, would look at the pledges that have been made, with a view to creating advertising-wide changes to make the department more sustainable.
The Guardian‘s advertising division is set to be the first team to complete the training by the end of January, before the scheme is rolled out more widely across the business.
James Fleetham, director of clients, marketing and research, said the entire course is based on Guardian journalism and there are plans to roll out the training to media agencies and advertiser clients.
Fleetham told The Media Leader: “The idea is that we get everybody up to a level [where] they have a good base level of knowledge, which would cover everything from the science behind what’s happening, the consequences of what we’re seeing now, what we might see over the next few years and also some of the solutions within that.
“Within the advertising team, there’s a specific look at an advertising angle.”
Industry avoids ‘bigger’ issues on sustainability
To become certified by The Carbon Literacy Trust, individuals must commit to two pledges at the end of the course, Fleetham added.
The ambition is that The Guardian‘s senior leadership team, led by Guardian Media Group CEO Anna Bateson, might look at the pledges that have been made, with a view to creating company-wide changes to make the organisation more sustainable.
In 2020, The Guardian pledged that it would no longer run ads by oil and gas companies. Fleetham signalled that the training effort could lead to further shifts in advertising policy.
He added: “[The industry] avoids thinking about the much bigger things of our role in consumerism. Every other media organisation is still working for fossil-fuel companies, which is fundamentally the one thing that all the scientists are saying you should stop doing.
“The course is designed to make you think about those more difficult questions… I don’t anticipate another ban on anything any time soon, but it’s going to make us think hard about how we’re delivering ads and the carbon that’s created and associated with that, for sure.”
Carbon calculators, such as those created by purpose-led ad platform Good-Loop, have shown that a typical online ad campaign emits 5.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide — almost half of the average annual carbon footprint of a person in the UK.
The course, comprising bespoke one-day workshops, is meant to provide an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis.
It aims to cover all the basics of what people need to know about the climate crisis and how to take action in their role and team.
