Nature recovery initiative shows how performance and sustainability can work together
Last month, Open Media became the latest company to join giffgaff, MG OMD, and Ecologi’s ‘Up to Good Fund’, which supports UK nature recovery and climate action projects.
The fund allows media owners, agencies and brands within giffgaff’s media ecosystem to opt in and commit a percentage of their net investment. Open Media, which partners on out-of-home advertising for MG OMD brands, has committed 1% of that annual spend.
What makes this initiative distinct is its focus on integrating nature recovery into the fabric of media campaigns, as opposed to separate corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, thereby positioning the initiative as a blueprint for scaling across the industry.
Helena Houghton-Casella, impact manager at Open Media, said: “The Up to Good Fund is an excellent example of blending business and positive behaviour change in a digestible way, rather than overcomplicating or jargon-ing this kind of work for brands and their planners.”
Also, the fund is being aligned to the global 30×30 initiative, through which the UK has committed to protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.
The advertising industry is often criticised for its environmental impact; however, according to The Ecologist, the sector only emits around 2-3% of global emissions each year. It also holds significant power to influence societal views, behaviour and consumer choices.
As marketing strategy director of giffgaff, Georgina Bramall, puts it: “It’s about weaving regeneration into the fabric of marketing itself”.
Changing the approach
MG OMD was the architect of the fund, which was founded in late 2023, and worked with giffgaff to implement it into its media campaigns. It has proved to be a pioneering mechanism for integrating UK nature restoration, cemented in the concept of “media in service of nature.”
Tim Pritchard, head of content and media at MG OMD, said: “The fund uses the media supply chain to create additional value that contributes positively to nature, without sacrificing performance.”
Pritchard also highlighted how another purpose of the fund is to drive recognition of how advertisers, agencies and media partners are “interconnected in sustainability progress”.
Notably, giffgaff posits sustainability as a key metric in measuring campaign performance and impact, alongside metrics such as reach and engagement.
“When you build sustainability into the heart of what you do, it can actually strengthen performance,” added Bramall.
“We’re showing that responsible investment in nature can sit comfortably within commercial decision-making — not as a cost burden, but as part of how we future-proof our industry and earn consumer trust.”
Despite this, sustainability has arguably been sidelined in the wake of other competing priorities, such as AI, which underlines the vitality of this initiative.
Bryan Scott, chief marketing officer, Ozone, echoed this: “It’s fair to say that in recent years we’ve seen less focus on sustainable practices than in previous years.
“It proves why initiatives like this are so important, as ‘doing good’ doesn’t have to negatively impact business results.
“At Ozone, we can see a clear link in smarter engineering that reduces carbon emissions, therefore costs, and thus improves profitability. Done correctly, it can be a win/win situation.”
Ozone, along with LadBible, Mobsta, Activision, Global, WeAre8, Snap Inc., Ablis, Pearl & Dean, Goodnet, Open Media, Acast, JCDecaux, Immediate Media and Overwolf are current partners to giffgaff’s fund.
To scale the fund’s impact, those involved have emphasised the importance of education, with MG OMD highlighting how it has been hosting sessions to raise awareness of the fund and the concept of media protecting nature.
Pritchard said: “Creating any new approach and getting everyone on board takes time.
“The greatest opportunity comes from connecting marketing and advertising teams with their colleagues working on their organisation’s wider sustainability or ESG goals, commitments and strategies.
“Understanding how marketing and media can contribute to them and create a positive impact is key.”
MG OMD also outlined how it regularly updates media partners on the fund’s progress, offering insights and transparency around where the money is being spent and its impact.
Future-proofing advertising
According to giffgaff, if the industry committed just 0.1% of media spend every year until 2030, it would raise £200m for nature regeneration.
Bramall stated how this was the motivator behind the fund: “We wanted to create a model that could be scaled across the industry.”
Pritchard concurred: “The ambition [is] that the model could be open-sourced and adopted by anyone in the industry.”
MG OMG, giffgaff, and Ecologi are working with industry bodies like Ad Net Zero and ISBA to open-source the blueprint, enabling any brand to plug the fund into their campaigns.
Ad Net Zero has endorsed the fund and continues to work to update its Global Media Sustainability Framework (GMSF), which provides a common framework and methodology for measuring carbon emissions generated by media and advertising activities.
Once the media ecosystem can reliably compare campaign emissions data, it becomes a valuable metric for evaluating campaign performance, sitting alongside established media KPIs, such as impressions and click-through rates.
Ad Net Zero updates sustainability framework for emissions calculations
A commercial advantage
With 40% of Gen Z surveyed in a 2024 Deloitte study agreeing that a brand’s environmental impact would influence their purchasing decisions, the case can be made that focusing on sustainability and supporting climate regeneration is a commercially viable decision.
Increasingly, there has been a growing movement for businesses to compete based on the sustainability of their strategies and internal systems.
Sebastian Munden, global chair of Ad Net Zero, reflected this: “The race is on to be more sustainable than your competitors in what you do and how you do it.”