Adweek’s 2023 Sustainability Honorees Set the Climate Agenda

Within the next decade, industries will have to expand, contract, transform and innovate in order to keep our climate livable. By 2030, scientists say, we will have to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half—and begin pulling unavoidable pollution back out of the air through natural and technological means. Throughout that process, marketers and advertisers have a critical role to play. Brands can make sustainable living more desirable: innovating for lower impact and then connecting the dots between cleaner products and a climate that remains safe for people all over the world. This industry holds incredible power to imagine, create and demonstrate the possibilities for a more climate-friendly way of doing business—or the opposite. As some of the world’s most highly trained communicators, marketers will help to determine how consumers respond to the climate crisis. Spotlighting advertising's climate leaders For Adweek's State of Sustainability package this year, we're honoring the people who represent the best of what this industry has to offer in the fight against climate change. Working alongside experts in sustainable business, marketing, social media and sustainable consumption, we identified six leaders that we believe are must-follows for the entire marketing ecosystem. If adland is going to reach its potential when it comes to supporting climate action, it'll be thanks to the leadership of these Adweek 2023 Sustainability Honorees: The Chief Marketer: For SunPower CMO June Sauvaget, Protecting the Environment Is a Family Tradition The Activist: Duncan Meisel Helps Advertisers Cut Ties With Fossil Fuel Clients The Creator: Sustainability Creator Leah Thomas Wants Brands to Ditch the Corporate Comparison The Agency Lead: Solitaire Townsend Designs the Future of Marketing With Sustainability at Its Center The Entrepreneur: Holo Founder Rommel Vega Makes Footwear Sustainable—and Affordable The Community Leader: Advertising Drives Climate Change, and Jonathan Wise Thinks Marketers Should Know Adweek’s 2023 Sustainability Honorees represent the voices shaping and informing the marketing world’s response to climate change. They’re setting new standards, developing new ways to measure impact and rethinking the connection between resource extraction and profit. To find, vet and select this list of honorees, Adweek worked with a group of four external experts: Kristy Drutman, climate creator and co-founder of the Green Jobs Board; Laura Gitman, chief operating officer at sustainability-focused consultancy BSR; Brad Hiranaga, chief brand officer at Cotopaxi (and a 2021 Adweek Sustainability Star); and Neeru Paharia, marketing professor at Arizona State University. “Because marketing is so central in consumption, and consumption is a key factor that influences environmental issues, these leaders have the best chance to impact change,” Paharia said. “Their work is going to lead the way to dramatically rethink the way we produce and consume goods, so that we keep in mind our limited resources and our shared planet.” These experts assisted Adweek's editorial team in parsing through the complex world of sustainability and marketing to identify who’s shaping the conversation. Advertising Drove Consumption to Unsustainable Levels. Can It Reverse Course? “The evolution of marketing and sustainability becoming more integrated is exciting to me, as the success of each is interdependent on the other,” said Hiranaga. “As a society, we know that we are facing large, complex problems that affect people and the planet. As a marketer, it’s incredibly motivating to have a role in creatively solving ESG problems through the decisions we make to build a growing brand, which ultimately influence the actions that people take as consumers to be part of a sustainable solution.” “This list reflects an important shift in the marketing community that has now looked critically at itself and the role it has played in creating some of today’s sustainability challenges,” Gitman said. “Initiatives such as Clean Creatives and Purpose Disruptors are doing fantastic work to shift the industry’s accountability and become a force for good.” This story is part of Adweek’s The State of Sustainability digital package, which spotlights climate-focused marketing solutions across the beauty, experiential and media spaces, and examines how an industry that was built to drive consumption is adapting to reduce its impact.

Sustainability Honors

Adweek’s 2023 Sustainability Honorees Are Setting Advertising’s Climate Agenda

Industry experts helped identify the 6 leaders driving change for marketers

Kathryn Lundstrom

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Kathryn Lundstrom