Grace Blue, the global executive search firm, has joined UK advertising industry’s climate action initiative, Ad Net Zero, becoming the first talent-based company to embed sustainability at the core of its business. This comes as increasing scrutiny is being placed by both employers and employees on their respective sustainability credentials, expertise and net zero transition plans, making action to address climate change a critical factor in where and how people choose to build their careers.
To further build on this, Grace Blue has formed its own sustainability team led by Global Chair, Ian Priest, with sustainability leaders in each of its three operating regions – US (Erin Maxin), EMEA (David Nobbs) and APAC (Ayesha Desquiens). Ad Net Zero is an industry wide drive to reduce the carbon impact of ad operations by end 2030, led by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA. Grace Blue joins more than a hundred fellow supporting organisations across advertisers, agencies, media owners, production companies and industry bodies.
Grace Blue’s sustainability team will work to educate its team, clients, and candidates on positive changes to the way it works with partners, encouraging best practice in sustainable ad operations, promoting sustainable behaviour change as a core skills requirement of leadership talent and facilitating knowledge-share across its leadership network of clients and candidates.
Ian Priest, Global Chair, Grace Blue, said: “The climate crisis is a global issue which affects every aspect of our lives. We need leaders in all parts of industry to bring about swift, long-lasting positive change to build a more sustainable way of living, transition businesses of all kinds to net zero and protect our planet. Increasingly, clients are asking for this expertise, but perhaps more critically, talent is demanding this of their employers and choosing where they will work based on how sustainable a business is now, and for the long-term.”
Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association, said: ““We need to accelerate the change in the way we work and the work we make as an industry, not just here in the UK and around the world. As such, making sustainability an essential criteria for leadership roles, now and future, will be another powerful way of achieving this. It is excellent to know
we have the support of Grace Blue and its extensive network of leadership talent to help make this change happen.”