Founder of Planet Positive Production, Carly Stone, attended the IPA Sustainability Summit in November. Here are her key takeaways from the Summit, originally posted to LinkedIn, alongside the recordings from the day itself.
What an incredible, jam‑packed morning of insight, passion, value and expertise, my head is still spinning from taking it all in.
Titled “Keep the Volume Turned Up”, the event was aptly named for those present: recognisable faces from industry associations and campaigners for change.
Hosted by the IPA with forward and closing remarks by Tom Firth, Founder & CEO of M&C Saatchi and Chair of the IPA Sustainability Action Group. Tom encouraged all to sign up to the IPA’s Agent of Change and, alongside the political turbulence of 2025, also gave some positive thoughts about growth in renewables, incredible tech innovations and consumerism gliding into a pre‑loved bubble.
One of Tom’s key takeaways was that collaboration is the way forward. I agree, but what stood out further for me was risk. Every panelist discussed risk in some form, tied to their case study or experience.
Leo Rayman, Founder and CEO at Eden Lab, opened with a direct approach, a refreshingly honest tone, tackling perception issues around net zero while sharing growth successes and innovations that need mainstream advertising support, one example was Deep Green Technologies. His case studies showed how brands can work “future‑backwards” to shape strategy. Tapping into his personal predictions, it was an alarming reality check on food scarcity, rising costs, and how this will affect marketing budgets and the industry. I liked his final summary of green capitalism: it’s not ideal, but it’s the best we currently have.
Pauline Robson questioned Jeremy Mathieu, Head of Sustainability at ITV (whose BBC presentation in 2020 sparked my own journey into sustainability) on how ITV embeds sustainability into its core strategy, using entertainment to inform and engage audiences. Emmerdale was cited as an example: installing a heat pump and winning a Campaign Ad Net Zero Award with tongue‑in‑cheek BTS content. He also highlighted Love Island’s collaboration with eBay on pre‑loved clothes for contestants, and how production teams rolled solar panels into adjoining fields to power the villa. Jeremy echoed Leo’s sentiment: a huge risk is seeing the demise of products from shelves and, in turn, the rising costs that will affect, reduce or potentially cull advertising and marketing budgets. He also advised that internal training is a must to bring departments together and on the same page.
giffgaff's Marketing Strategy Director, Georgina Bramall and Tim Pritchard, Executive Director, Head of Responsible Media at MG OMD, presented the Up to Good Fund in collaboration with Ecologi, an industry‑acknowledged tool enabling media partners to invest back into climate action. Planting trees or offsetting isn’t the full answer, but it’s part of the solution, and with awareness at scale in media, could be a unique contribution from our industry. I am a supporter of JUST ONE Tree, created and built by the formidable Amanda Bronkhorst, from a thought into a movement, shaping communities both in the UK and abroad. An outstanding achievement.
Clean Creatives' Director of Community, Laura Ranzato and Florencia Lujani, Co-Founder of ACT Climate Labs, delivered an impressive update on fossil fuel activism. The CC Offramp Report showed how achievable it could be to remove fossil fuel clients from advertising. Edelman still sits on top with the most fossil fuel revenue. What strikes me about Clean Creatives is their determination and focus on a sole mission: eradicating fossil fuels from advertising, mirroring the ban on tobacco. They are a passionate, well‑supported community (over 1,500 agencies have signed the pledge) that continues to highlight the mission and potential in our industry to make this needed change.
M&C Saatchi showcased their collaboration with the UK Government on The Clean Energy Super Power Mission campaign, with public stats confirming how emotion motivates audiences in environmental advertising. A super‑cute campaign with a high success rate and happy client.
Ad Net Zero Young Leaders - The Guardian's Ben Murray and Olivia Montgomery from the7stars - highlighted the importance of integrating emerging voices with leadership teams, and the power of reverse mentoring. This resonated with me: a key element in my workshops is that all voices around the table add cultural value to any business and project. Both Young Leaders stressed the importance of training and investing time and budget to ensure staff were knowledgeable.
Marianne Yarrow from the IPA Sustainability Action Group declared their recent partnership with Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and encouraged agency staff to take its courses.
Matt Bourn, Director of Communications at the Advertising Association, recapped the Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards in its fourth year, showing how balancing sustainability with commercial success is now a requirement for future campaigns. He reflected on changes in the way we are working alongside changes in the work we are creating, the way forward.
VCCP's James Johnstone shared the long‑term deliverables of their Transport for London work, explaining how measuring carbon footprint with Green Shoot enabled benchmarking and future campaign predictions. He showcased the UniFida tool and its ability to predict future campaigns, working alongside their client across finance and sustainability targets.
William Menko, Strategy Director at Born Social, closed with their Ford EV case study, showing how comedy and implicit storytelling created a hugely successful EV launch campaign. The outcome was a build‑up of public intrigue, one VIP ex‑footballer, and a successful launch that avoided greenwashing and challenged the usual expectations of car advertising.
Tom closed with a report that a new media carbon calculator tool is in its beta stage and due to be released soon. He encouraged everyone to join the IPA Sustainability Action Group to keep the momentum.
This is just a surface skim. If anybody is serious about learning more about the future of advertising, these are the voices to follow, engage and share.
AI was mentioned only once, almost a throwaway comment. The bigger picture was the talent and power we already have in the industry.
What I took away from this morning was real people, doing real work, with real successes. This wasn’t a ESG reporting, accountability‑bashing or finger‑pointing sustainable business lecture. It was relatable and understandable creative ways that our industry has the ability to make change, its been a long time coming for me to see such great action happening.
I’m off to contemplate these approaches and opportunities. DM or email me if you’d like a more in‑depth overview, happy to connect, chat and consider.
Download the slides from the IPA Sustainability Summit 2025
Carly Stone is the Founder of Planet Positive Production. This article was originally posted on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed here are those of the authors and were submitted in accordance with the IPA terms and conditions regarding the uploading and contribution of content to the IPA newsletters, IPA website, or other IPA media, and should not be interpreted as representing the opinion of the IPA.