WFA revamps its approach to Sustainable Marketing

“The approach acknowledges that sustainability, like AI, cannot be siloed to a particular corporate leader or department and needs to be integrated across all functions, as well as across member marketing organisations and brands."

WFA is revamping its approach to sustainability and bolstering its commitments with a new Sustainable Marketing Advisory Board and Community, open to all WFA members. Sustainable Marketing will now sit as a transversal topic for WFA, connecting with its policy work and all other WFA forums including the CMO, Sourcing, Media and Insight Forums and AI and Inclusive Marketing Communities.

The new strategy will build on the marketing-led approach it launched in 2021 with the WFA Planet Pledge and will continue to work on identifying and developing case studies, resources and training tools as well as providing a safe space for open peer-to-peer discussions.

The approach acknowledges that sustainability, like AI, cannot be siloed to a particular corporate leader or department and needs to be integrated across all functions, as well as across member marketing organisations and brands.

Opening the WFA’s sustainability expertise and efforts up will enable us to have an even greater impact because the issue, particularly when it comes to climate, is not going away. Sustainability remains a planetary and business imperative that must be addressed.

At WFA we believe that marketing can be a critical lever in the global response and that leading sustainability goes beyond following rules and regulations because it also has the power to act as a driver of growth.

For example, Ingka Group, owner of IKEA, have shown the value of effectively integrating their sustainability efforts into the marketing organisation. In January 2025, the group reported that the company had reduced its climate footprint by 30.1% whilst increasing revenues by 23.7%.

WFA CEO Stephan Loerke supports the switch from a ‘vertical’ Planet Pledge Forum to a more cross-cutting community:

“We are incredibly proud of the work that Planet Pledge has led over the last four years but now is the time to ensure its thought leadership can benefit the wider WFA community. Adopting a credible sustainability agenda can be an important driver of growth. WFA will be shifting its focus to the practical ways that it can build strong, future-proof brands that benefit all stakeholders longer-term.”

The new Sustainable Marketing Community will be led by an advisory board, co-chaired by Asahi’s Group Head of Sustainability, Preeti Srivastav and Dale Green, Global Purpose Director at Mars. Comprised of senior leaders from across the former Planet Pledge community, the advisory board will act to identify and focus priorities for the wider WFA Sustainable Marketing Community, ensuring we are providing the guidance and best practice that members need to make a difference in their own marketing organisations. Confirmed advisory board members include representatives from PepsiCo, Schneider Electric, Renault Group, Opella and Diageo.

The new community will be open to all WFA members, providing practical tools and compelling impact data to drive progress on sustainability for marketing across the whole membership and the broader industry via WFA’s passionate network of national associations. WFA members can join the Sustainable Marketing Community by registering here.

Track record of success

These changes build on the success that Planet Pledge has made since it was launched in 2021. Forty global brands joined as signatories, meeting four times annually to help drive progress against their Net Zero targets, sharing case studies and insights in a unique peer-to-peer forum.

The thought leadership developed by Planet Pledge continues to drive impact across industry, with Sustainable Marketing 2030, co-created with Kantar, being included by Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership in a new self-paced online training programme.

Preeti Srivastav, co-chair of the Sustainable Marketing Advisory Board, added:

“In recent years, WFA has emerged as a leader in the intersection of marketing & sustainability, fostering dialogue, inspiring action and driving progress in the vital space of sustainable marketing. As WFA transitions Planet Pledge into its new Sustainable Marketing Community, I look forward to engaging with even more companies across WFA's global membership and to marketers globally leveraging WFA’s practical resources, thought leadership and training programmes.  Like all WFA forums, The Sustainable Marketing Community will allow businesses to celebrate successes, share best practices and candidly address challenges and lessons learned. These forums for sharing are needed now more than ever and will undoubtedly help embed sustainability into marketing, drive momentum and accelerate progress."

For more information, contact Michelle McEvoy. WFA members can join the community here.