Advertising for Climate Action and Human Rights

🧳CAN is heading to New York City! Next week, Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) will be in New York for United Nations General Assembly 81 and Climate Week NYC, joining partners and peers from across industry, civil society and the multilateral community. We’ll be exploring what stronger climate information integrity means in practice for advertisers, platforms and the wider advertising supply chain, and how international progress can translate into clearer accountability and practical industry action. Across the week, CAN Co-Founder Jake Dubbins will be speaking and joining sessions with Creatives for Climate, Futerra, Potential Energy Coalition, GoodPower, Fossil Free Media, Under2 Coalition and Climate Action Against Disinformation , among others. On Thursday, Jake will also speak at the Information Integrity Solutions Dialogue at the United Nations Headquarters, before joining the SDG Media Zone at UNGA81 for a session on AI, advertising and the global information crisis. 📺 Jake’s SDG Media Zone session will also be available to watch live via the UN:  https://lnkd.in/ebvbhSVG 🔗 In New York too? Connect with us at hello@consciousadnetwork.org. And if you’d like to directly support the work CAN is bringing to New York, you can donate here: https://lnkd.in/eqSF9Hms #ClimateInformationIntegrity #ConsciousAdvertising #UNGA81 #ClimateWeekNYC #TogetherWeCAN

🌍 One Month on from COP30: A Turning Point for Advertising COP30 was called the “COP of Truth”, and the first time Information Integrity entered the UNFCCC Action Agenda. As we mark Human Rights Day, it’s a powerful reminder that accurate information is essential to democracy, human rights, and effective climate action. 🔑 Key takeaways for the ad industry 🔹20+ governments are committed to strengthening accurate climate information and responsible advertising    🔹Businesses are expected to adopt transparent, human-rights-aligned practices    🔹Read our COP30 blog to explore CAN’s impact on the ground and more:  https://lnkd.in/dDh8Zzsi 🎥 COP30 Reportback Webinar We recently brought together leaders from Climate Action Against Disinformation, Creatives for Climate, ACT Climate Labs, Futerra, Purpose Disruptors and more, with CAN’s Harriet Kingaby Kingaby co-facilitating and Jake Dubbins Dubbins speaking on the industry’s role. Watch the replay here: https://lnkd.in/dbWg6ZyM     📌 What agencies & brands should do next 1️⃣ Use the ACT Climate Labs “Five Levers for Change” Blueprint 2️⃣ Review service emissions, fossil-fuel policies & supply-chain transparency 3️⃣ Back information-integrity legislation and ethical media placement  Advertising has a crucial role to play, and the work starts now. #COP30 #InformationIntegrity #ClimateAction #ResponsibleAdvertising #CAN #TogetherWeCAN 

What CAN got up to in June and July ✨ At Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, we explored how transparency, accountability and human impact can build trust beyond brand safety. At London Climate Action Week, we connected climate narratives with the systems that amplify them, and the practical steps advertising can take to counter climate disinformation. At TTG Media’s Fairer Travel Event, we examined how evidence-backed sustainability claims can build trust without tipping into greenwashing or greenhushing. At MAD//FEST, we looked beyond metrics to the real-world consequences of platform design, targeting and advertising supply chains. At the AI For Good Global Summit, we joined a UN-convened roundtable on information integrity and the evidence needed to clarify advertising’s role in AI governance. ⬇️ Swipe through for the highlights, the ideas connecting them and the practical questions advertising now needs to address. 👥 Representing CAN across June and July: Harriet Kingaby, Jake Dubbins, Alex Murray, Marsha Jackson and Nafissa Norris (née Jeetoo). #ResponsibleAdvertising #InformationIntegrity #TogetherWeCAN

🌍 Climate information integrity: the next step for advertising Global frameworks on climate information integrity have move forward. Now comes implementation. For advertising, the next step is putting those frameworks into practice across the advertising supply chain. Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) is developing a practical resource to help close that implementation gap, drawing on evidence of harms and regulatory gaps to support more accountable advertising. ⌛ More on this work soon, as it moves towards publication. 🔗 And if you’d like to support the resources and operations behind work like this, help us raise £5,000 by 7th October: https://lnkd.in/eqSF9Hms #ClimateInformationIntegrity #ConsciousAdvertising #TogetherWeCAN

🔎 Conscious Questioning: from better questions to more informed decisions As advertising supply chains, AdTech, and AI-driven systems become more complex, advertisers need to understand where their money goes, what it supports, and how decisions are made.  Asking better questions is part of making conscious, informed decisions. Recent CAN work has brought these questions into focus, from our UN x CAN Issue Brief on AI and information integrity and the CAN Policy Platform, to our work with the Molly Rose Foundation and the Molly vs The Machines discussion at MAD//FEST. Step 4 of the CAN Guiding Principles is Conscious Questions. It sets out four practical ways to build a culture of questioning: be curious, ask to see your supply chain, ask until you understand, and point out things that don’t stack up. ⬇️ Swipe through to explore what Conscious Questioning looks like in practice. 🔗 Explore the CAN resources behind this work via the links in the comments. ❓Is there’s a question you cannot get answered? Share it with CAN at hello@consciousadnetwork.org #ConsciousQuestioning #ResponsibleAdvertising #TogetherWeCAN 

🔎 Following the money: advertising’s role in the information ecosystem   Last week at the SDG Media Zone during United Nations General Assembly 81, CAN Co-Founder Jake Dubbins joined Charlotte Scaddan and Rupen Desai for “Follow the Money: AI, Advertising and the Global Information Crisis”, with Liz Kneebone moderating the discussion. The session explored how advertising helps finance the digital information ecosystem, what current incentives reward, and where advertisers can use their leverage to drive greater transparency and accountability. A clear thread emerged: the need to move from principles and commitments to practical implementation across the advertising supply chain. Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) is developing a practical resource to help address that challenge and support more accountable advertising. More soon. A sincere thank you to Charlotte, Rupen and Liz for such an insightful discussion, and to the SDG Media Zone for hosting the session. ⬇️ Swipe to see what stood out. ▶️ Watch the full session on UN Web TV: https://lnkd.in/eeqBwFzk 🔗 And if you’d like to support the resources and operations behind work like this, help us raise £5,000 by 7th October: https://lnkd.in/eqSF9Hms #ClimateInformationIntegrity #ConsciousAdvertising #UNGA81 #TogetherWeCAN

📰 UK Newspapers: "𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲" New research reveals that during COP29, UK national newspapers gave 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 to adverts for polluting industries than to coverage of climate negotiations. 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝘀. 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 🚩 Across the UK’s leading papers, ads for high-carbon travel (flights, cruises, etc.) filled 1,745 column inches, compared to 1,540 inches of coverage on the climate talks themselves. 🚩 In total, COP29 coverage made up just 2% of all editorial space at the peak of the summit. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 🚩 A third of all paid ads during the talks promoted high-carbon products — from airlines and carmakers to fossil fuel–funding banks and petrol retailers. 🚩 Last year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on news media to stop working with the "mad men fuelling the madness" - the ad and PR agencies creating campaigns for polluting industries. 🚩 As The Ecologist’s Brendan Montague - the report’s author - notes: “𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘹𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴.” 📖 Read the full report. 👇

📬 The September edition of CAN's newsletter is almost here! Landing in inboxes on September 29, this edition is looking at responsibility across media, advertising and digital spaces, including: ➡ What media and advertising amplify, from racist stereotyping in British media to restrictions on high-carbon advertising; ➡ Platform design, digital wellbeing and different approaches to creating safer social spaces. Plus, more reads, resources and opportunities from CAN and the wider industry. 📩 Subscribe to CAN’s newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eU38gJhv 📘 Explore CAN’s Guiding Principles: https://lnkd.in/eq-heStG 💬 Have questions or want to partner with CAN? Get in touch at hello@consciousadnetwork.org And if you’d like to directly support this work, you can donate here: https://lnkd.in/eqSF9Hms #ConsciousAdvertising #TogetherWeCAN

"Ask a sustainability officer what their company's advertising actually funds. Most won't know. Ask a marketing or media manager whether their own media plan is quietly funding platforms the brand would never want to be associated with. Same blank look, mirrored back." For weeks, Maurits Priem has been writing the Responsible Advertising newsletter where he's expertly dissected the pieces of the puzzle for advertisers seeking to align their spend with their brand values. He's taken work from from the Conscious Advertising Network, Deloitte, McGill University, Wim Vermeulen and more - combining it into a powerful framework and blueprint for responsible advertising. Whether you're a CMO or an agency partner seeking to stay ahead, it's essential reading. As Priem himself says: "Companies that will be most exposed when the next wave of regulation arrives are the ones that waited for the law to tell them what to do." The companies that will be best positioned are the ones that asked the question earlier, documented their reasoning, and built the muscle of deliberate choice. Doing well by doing good is not just a moral position. It is a competitive one." Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eauX9XGD Jake Dubbins Nafissa Norris (née Jeetoo) Eline Yara Jeanné Alex Murray Andrea Mancuso Marsha Jackson Amelie Lambert Laura Wade

Great to see Purpose Disruptors and our work on Advertised Emissions highlighted in this important new report from the Responsible Media Forum. They highlight the distinction between us and Ad Net Zero, which is useful. "Emissions related to advertising emerged as a growing area of concern, particularly following external engagement. Distinctions were made in the discussions between Advertising Emissions (those from the production and dissemination of adverts) and Advertised Emissions (defined by Purpose Disruptors as the “uplift in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) driven by the increased sales that result from advertising”).... including: how they should be measured, who needs to report on them, and the extent to which they play a role in industry net-zero targets. Ad Net Zero is an organisation that aims to help business reduce Advertising Emissions (with tools, resources, frameworks and education materials), whilst Purpose Disruptors are calling for industry measurement and action on Advertised Emissions (a concept they introduced at COP26). " Thanks to Miriam Davies Daniel Witte Sonia Shah Imogen Crane for all the hard work pulling this together.