Marketing & Communications Organizational Governance

Carlsberg Group Joins Companies Using Marketing to Drive Climate Action

The brewing giant joins 16 other global companies in signing onto the World Federation of Advertisers’ Planet Pledge, which aims to change marketing from a driver of consumption into a catalyst for more sustainable thinking and behavior.

Published 3 years ago | About a 4 minute read

Image: Carlsberg

“Saving our planet is now a communications challenge.” — Sir David Attenborough

Carlsberg Group has signed the World Federation of Advertisers’ (WFA) Planet Pledge – a global commitment to making marketing teams a force for positive change both internally and by inspiring consumers to act.

Carlsberg — which brews, markets and distributes hundreds of global beer brands — joins 16 other corporate giants including Bayer, Coca-Cola, General Mills, IKEA, L’Oréal, Mastercard, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard and Unilever, along with 18 national advertiser associations in signing the Pledge with the aim to find a clear role for marketing as a positive force for environmental change.

Along with collaboratives such as SB’s Brands for Good initiative, which is also leveraging brand marketing efforts to make responsible consumption more attractive and attainable at scale, the WFA’s Planet Pledge aims to change marketing from a driver of consumption into a catalyst for more sustainable thinking and behavior. Carlsberg Group has set clear commitments to become a more sustainable business through its Together Towards ZERO program. Since 2015, it has cut relative emissions from its breweries by 39 percent, with science-based targets for zero emissions from its breweries by 2030; it has also introduced innovations such as the Snap Pack to cut plastic packaging waste, and recently began delivering to customers in Switzerland through the country’s largest fleet of electric trucks.

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The pledge builds on this ongoing work, committing the company’s marketing team to take action to engage consumers and the supply chain, with a focus on four key areas:

Commit to being a champion for the global Race to Zero campaign, both internally and throughout their marketing supply chain
Scale the capability of marketing organizations to lead for climate action by providing the tools and guidance for marketers and agencies
Harness the power of their marketing communications to drive more sustainable consumer behaviors
Reinforce a trustworthy marketing environment, where sustainability claims can be easily substantiated so that consumers can trust the marketing messages they are presented with as they seek to align their own consumption with their values.

“The Planet Pledge targets are ambitious and very much in line with our own. They recognize that success will require getting our consumers, customers and suppliers on board,” said Robbie Millar, VP Global Marketing at Carlsberg Group. “In doing so, I truly believe in the power of effective marketing communication as a way of winning the hearts and minds of beer lovers everywhere and encouraging them to be more sustainable in their behavior. By signing the pledge, we confirm our commitment to promoting sustainability through our actions globally.”

Over the past year, marketeers across the Carlsberg Group have already started using the brands to engage consumers on sustainability, including:

In the UK, the Carlsberg brand has partnered with WWF to restore seagrass around the UK coastline, bringing sustainability to the forefront of the brand to share the message that a small action can have a big impact for our planet.
In Denmark, another partnership with WWF via the Tuborg brand set out to investigate Danes’ plastic habits and provide them with the advice and tips to use plastic more sustainably.
In Poland, the “we cherish water” campaign raised awareness and understanding of the importance of water as a finite resource through the local KASZTELAN brand.
In Switzerland, the new Uszit brand focuses on protecting forests, with a donation for every can sold going to support forest conservation projects.
In Vietnam, through the local brand Huda, the team is focused on improving access to fresh water for the people living in Central Vietnam. Since launching the campaign in 2019, it’s provided clean water for 20,000 people across five provinces.

Simon Boas Hoffmeyer, Senior Director Sustainability at Carlsberg Group, commented: “We are facing a climate crisis; and brand owners like ourselves carry a great responsibility: to go beyond making our own operations sustainable, and use our brands to inspire millions of consumers to make more sustainable choices. This is a vital year for climate action; and this pledge is an important step to engaging many more people to act for the future of our planet.”

Learn more about the WFA’s Planet Pledge at WFAplanetpledge.org.