Creatives for Climate — a global network
arming communicators with the skills, resources and collective power to act for
the climate — is becoming a global non-profit foundation and launching its
first course. Recently awarded a
€100,000 grant from the KR Foundation, one of the world’s
leading donors addressing the root causes of climate change, the network is now
scaling its efforts to drive climate action within the creative industries.
Inspired by Extinction Rebellion’s rallying cry to the advertising industry
in
2019,
Creatives for Climate launched as a one-off
summit
organized by climate activist Lucy von Sturmer, founder of impact
consultancy The Humblebrag. The network grew
organically as a response to industry professionals’ need to reskill to drive
positive change at work: In a recent
study,
40 percent of marketers report that they lack relevant sustainability marketing
qualifications, despite 76 percent of them having been involved in
sustainability projects over the past five years.
After more than two years of self-organization, Creatives for Climate is now a
3000+ strong global community that drives change by providing a “safe space” of
knowledge sharing, collaborative learning and radical reskilling for industry
frontrunners. To mark its growth from a project into a global non-profit
foundation, Creatives for Climate is launching its first training
program
— “Greenwash Watch: How to design a sustainability strategy to deliver projects
with impact” — at Cannes Lions this week, as
part of a 12-month action plan. The course will begin August 1 as a live Summer
School cohort.
One of many new tools to come, the Greenwash Watch
course will
empower creative professionals to build real strategies for change and push
back on greenwashing](/read/marketing-and-comms/greenwashing-is-dangerous-lessons-for-purpose-driven-brands-from-innocent-s-recent-lashing) at work. Designed by
sustainability marketing professor Gill
Willson and facilitated live by
systems thinker Evva
Semenowicz,
the course spans seven modules from “selling the business case to the CMO” to
“weeding out the greenwashing in a sustainability strategy.”
The 50 Liter Home: Lessons from a multi-industry global collaboration
Join us as leaders from Electrolux and Procter & Gamble share insights and progress to date on ‘The 50 Liter Home’ — a partnership aimed at reducing water consumption in the home, while also generating awareness that leads to better lifestyle choices for sustainable water use — Wednesday, Oct. 16, at SB'24 San Diego.
Each module will see experts from academia, industry and grassroots activism
equipping participants with the tools they need to create impactful campaigns
that preserve the future of our planet. Guest speakers will include Samuel
Gosschalk (Greenpeace), Alex Weller (Patagonia) and Christian
Smith (Zalando).
“Many in the communication industry don’t have the skills to effectively
communicate sustainability or, equally, to recognize and push back on
greenwashing,” von Sturmer says. “With no regulation or widely accepted
definition of terms such as ‘sustainability,’ ‘good’ or ‘impact,’ radical
re-skilling is needed. Greenwash Watch invites academics, activists, brand
strategists and sustainability exports to share their knowledge and challenge
brands to really drive change.”
Combining peer-to-peer training and collective action, Creatives for Climate is
not only unleashing the potential of creativity to trigger peoples’ imaginations
and stimulate the co-production of hopeful climate solutions, but also offering
a much-needed critical lens to identify the industry’s central climate blind
spots. As part of becoming a new foundation, Creatives for Climate will use the
KR Foundation grant to launch several new programmes and campaigns over the next
12 months. Through its expansion, the organizers say they aim to empower more
creatives to make a difference in their work, giving individuals more ‘agency’
to drive positive impacts.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jun 21, 2022 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST