This week, a United Nations panel of scientists released a landmark report detailing how the damage humans have done to the planet is approaching the point of no return. The findings released by the group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reveal how human influence has precipitated global warming at an unprecedented rate and asserted that nations need to make quick and rapid changes to greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert climate catastrophe. The authors of the report found that since 1970, the earth’s surface temperatures have risen faster than any other 50-year period over the last 2,000 years. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the findings a “code red" for humanity. "There is no time for delay and no room for excuses," he said.

Even without a doomsday report, however, consumers and investors are looking to brands to prioritize fighting climate change and sustainability. Recently we’ve seen major brands make bold commitments to the planet, with some of them putting such promises at center stage of their marketing messages.

Apple

In July 2020, Apple debuted an unusual ad featuring nothing but a baby, snoozing away in the comfort of a plush white bed. The idyllic scenario announced the company’s promise to completely eliminate its carbon footprint by 2030. The ad followed a big environmental milestone for Apple, which had recently revealed that all its corporate operations, from facilities to travel, were carbon-neutral. 

General Motors

At the beginning of this year, General Motors announced it would stop selling gasoline vehicles by 2035 as part of its goal to become carbon neutral by 2040. The brand, like other automakers, has made major investments in advertising its electric vehicles. During the Super Bowl, it debuted a pair of high-profile spots, one from McCann starring Will Ferrell and Awkwafina promoting the company’s EV lineup as well as another, via Leo Burnett, focusing on the Cadillac Lyriq. The latter starred Winona Ryder and Timothée Chalamet in a sequel of sorts to Tim Burton’s classic film “Edward Scissorhands.”

HP

HP has the ambitious goal to become the world’s “most sustainable and just technology company,” as president and CEO Enrique Lores noted in its 2020 Sustainability Impact Report. The brand recently promoted its efforts in an Olympics ad from Wieden+Kennedy that highlighted how ocean-bound plastic goes into the manufacture of more than 50 of its products. Over the past five years, HP has used more than 1.8 million pounds of the material, the equivalent of about 64 million plastic bottles.

Ikea

Ikea has committed to becoming “climate positive” by 2030—that is, the company has promised to reduce more greenhouse gases than it emits from its own business. To reach that goal, one key move has been the brand’s efforts to become a “circular” business, designing all its products to be reused, refurbished, remanufactured and recycled. That’s been evident in some of the brand’s recent major campaigns, such as the “Buy Back Friday” and “Trash Collection” campaigns promoting Ikea’s offering that helps consumers resell their old items. 

Budweiser

In 2018, Anheuser-Busch announced that, among its 2025 sustainability goals, it aimed to have 100% of its purchased electricity come from renewable sources and to reduce the CO2 emissions across its value chain by 25%.  Earlier this year in time for Earth Day, the AB Inbev brand Budweiser debuted its first global campaign focused on sustainability, a digital and social push called “Together We Can Turn This Around.” The anchor was a “reverse poem” that depicted how individuals can “Choose Earth” and reverse the negative impact of climate change.
 

Evian

In March, Evian debuted its “Drink True” campaign from Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam that brings a bigger spotlight to its sustainability efforts. The initial work starred singer Dua Lipa and a young climber hiking in the Swiss Alps. The brand has committed to making all of its bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025.

Burger King 

Livestock contributes to as much as 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, so Burger King set out to do its part to reduce the environmental impact of making all those Whoppers. Along with agency We Believers and agricultural scientists, the brand conceived a new lemongrass diet for cattle that would help to cut down their methane output. The experiment produced a limited-run of "Cows Menu" Whoppers, but the research is now being implemented in pilots and testing across the U.S., Austria, Ireland, Mexico and Brazil through partnerships with some of the world’s biggest meat producers. 

Tide

Earlier this year, Procter & Gamble’s Tide debuted the “#TurntoCold” campaign, part of an ambitious 10-year plan to get consumers to wash in cold water. According to P&G research, the moves stem from the fact that the most negative impact from its products’ entire life cycle, from manufacturing through use, comes from heating water. The crossover to cold served as the key point of the campaign’s messaging, which has included celebrity-driven spots starring Ice T and Stone Cold Steve Austin, as well as a remake of the iconic Tide bullseye logo to include a snowflake and cold-water dial setting.

Brewdog

Last year, craft beer Brewdog announced going carbon neutral wasn’t enough. The brand was going “carbon negative” and promised to eliminate from the environment double the amount of carbon that it emits. At the center of that promise was the “Lost Forest,” 2,000 acres of land the brand purchased in Scotland on which it has committed to planting more than a million trees by 2022.