HOW TO: Go green

 There can be few people who remain unconvinced of the need to reduce our harmful impact on the environment. However, it is easy to think it is up to others to act. After all, the marketing industry has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to the industrial, manufacturing or extractive industries.

Sustainable marketing agency Noughtilus argues that the environmental impacts of the marketing industry are significant however, citing paper manufacture as the fourth largest user of energy with 3,600,000 magazines and 7,600,000 newspapers printed annually in the UK. Not to mention direct mail, promotional material and billboard advertising.

Keith Jones, group leader of multi-industry solutions and services at Acxiom, agrees something has to be done. “It's simple – marketers who don't adopt more environmentally friendly policies won't keep their jobs past the end of the decade,” he says. “If you are not considering the environment, you are not only damaging the planet, you are also limiting your chances of reaching your audience.”