At Immediate, sustainability is central to everything we do. We're working hard on our carbon footprint, in our offices where we're reducing our energy usage and trialling sustainable catering options, and all along our value chain. Recently we have:
- Reduced carbon emissions by 18% in 2024.
- Had our net zero pathway validated by SBTi: a 30% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2045. Currently tracking 8% ahead of target.
- Audited our websites and implemented changes to reduce emissions per page view. Our websites are now in Scope 3's top ten percent.
- Reduced carbon emissions of covermounts by 22% and increased the amount of recycled plastic used by 24%.
- Annually retained over two million gifts from unsold magazines to reduce waste. We've reused 16 million covermounts since 2016.
- Eliminated 99% of plastic packaging on both subscriptions and newsstand copies, using recyclable alternatives instead.
Our supply chain forms the largest part of our carbon footprint and our impact on the planet so we want to reduce emissions in this area as fast as we can. But as a media company, we also have the privilege and responsibility of being able to have a planet positive impact through our content.
A recent study* showed that most people are concerned about the climate crisis and want to see positive action, but they don't feel knowledgeable about the detail, so the potential for sustainability content is huge. Audiences also think those with most power and influence should lead, including the media — this is an obligation Immediate takes very seriously. With popular brands across a wide range of platforms, reaching 20 million people per month, we have a powerful opportunity to communicate positively around sustainability, maximising the power of our brands to help audiences live more sustainable lives.
Our ambition is to drive understanding and showcase climate action through our content, empowering our audiences and inspiring change for the better.
Bringing our teams with us
How are we doing this? Firstly, we try to consider sustainability in everything we do, and so all our content is created within this milieu. We hold annual Climate Action Days for our staff with inspiring speakers, such as Chris Packham and representatives from Ad Net Zero, Count Us In, and Purpose Disruptors. Monthly workshops for staff help us to think about making changes in our home lives, with topics including How to Save the Planet in Your Lunch Hour, Travelling Light: Sustainable Transport and Holidaying, How to Have a Non-Grinch Sustainable Xmas, and Get Heat Pump Ready.
To further bring our vision to life, we have created an internal working group, the Content Changemakers, to create inspiration, guidance and support for our wider creative teams. All content creators at Immediate have received climate literacy training and attended language framing workshops to ensure that our content inspires and does not polarise.
This is backed up for each Immediate brand by an audience survey to understand their level of knowledge and interest in climate, and by testing for language that will resonate positively with them. And we work with partner organisations to generate additional climate content which showcases ‘normal’ people, helping us show climate action as part of everyday life.
All our brands have signed up to our Climate Content Pledge: ‘Immediate will use its huge reach and exceptional talent to create relatable, entertaining and inspiring content. We want our audiences to understand the need for climate action, how it’s relevant to all our lives and how we can all be part of the solution. We aim to bring attention to critical issues, normalise sustainable choices and share narratives of positive change. We’re committed to integrating climate and nature positive content seamlessly across all our platforms and brands, reaching audiences of all backgrounds, to inspire collective action.’
We ask ourselves: ‘Does this feel like it was created in a climate emergency?’ This guiding principle ensures that our content can drive real change.
Adapting our content
We have used tech and data to help us reach our goals, too. We audited output to identify opportunities for increasing planet positive content and then set KPIs to increase such content by 15% per year. We’re working with behavioural change specialists to learn the principles of nudge campaigns that can help change public behaviour. We created tags on our CMS to track climate content, including for ads. And one of our newest developments is an AI tool that can ‘sub-edit’ draft copy and suggest improvements which can highlight positive sustainability messaging.
Delivering sustainability-focused content in the current climate crisis can be challenging. Much climate content in the media has a negative angle, which does not fit well with Immediate’s stated mission, to ‘Bring Joy’. Audiences read about the effects of the climate crisis in floods and wildfires, or about companies rolling back their sustainability goals. Many think other people don’t care or want to act, which can lead to a sense of fatalism. However, at Immediate our strategy is to normalise and celebrate climate action, showing people incorporating it into their everyday lives. Our mission is to make it joyful and actionable by seamlessly integrating it into everything we do. We know language and framing really matter and we’re lucky enough to have many talented people making sure our content lands the best way it possibly can.
Here are some recent editorial highlights:
• Radio Times published a bold Earth Day special issue, guest edited by Chris Packham. The issue empowered readers to act, whether by changing their bank account, diet or joining a campaign for clean rivers.
Climate content was reflected across the magazine, from features, to feedback, to ads, to travel. Cross-brand coverage was secured with Chris and his stepdaughter Megan McCubbin featuring on the Radio Times podcast and Chris and Feargal Sharkey doing a piece to camera by the River Test while on a shoot at a sewage works.
Social media content — featuring Chris answering audience questions directly on camera, videos unveiling his role as guest editor and his behind-the-scenes cover shoot — resonated hugely with our readers, amassing over 200k video views, and reaching over 4.7 million users. The compelling and creative cover made sure we supercharged coverage.
• In BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, a sustainable ethos is woven through all content as standard, and we purposefully and regularly put the spotlight on key issues facing gardeners today. Annual campaigns focus on positive climate action, including Put Pollinators First in 2021, Growing Greener in 2022, The Thrifty Grower in 2023 and the 2024 Grow Something Different campaign, encouraging plant diversity as a key pillar for a future-proof eco-system.
This year, we’ve launched Make a Metre Matter, encouraging readers to use just one metre of outdoor space to do something new and make a positive difference to our planet. Running across the magazine, podcast, live events and television, this campaign will combine ideas in the magazine for readers to try, a garden full of inspiration to visit at the BBC Gardeners’ World Live show, and the chance to follow this garden’s design journey on the television programme. Audiences will have all the inspiration they need to do something different in their gardens for the good of the planet.
Content around homegrown fruit and veg, which cuts down on food miles and the environmental pressures of buying mass-produced, is also at the heart of all we do. It’s now extended beyond the BBC Gardeners’ World brand too, with a collaboration with Good Food resulting in a Grow & Cook special edition.
• Good Food empowers its audience to make greener food choices through practical guidance, without compromising on taste or budget. Sustainability is embedded in all our content, with Planet-Friendlier and Cook Smart badges helping consumers make informed, planet-conscious decisions.
A partnership with Reewild introduced carbon footprinted recipes and this was a UK media first. We focus on actionable guides on reducing food waste and making eco-friendly choices; behavioural nudges to encourage long-term habit changes; social campaigns promoting plant-based meals and waste-reduction hacks; impactful messaging, including sustainability reminders in our Test Kitchen, and on normalising change through expert guidance and real-life storytelling.
This strategy is driving real impact — our Good Food Nation survey shows increased engagement, a rise in meat-free meal adoption, and a shift towards more sustainable cooking. We’re not just informing — we’re transforming food habits for the better.
• BBC Match of the Day magazine is working with The Big Green Football Weekend and recently ran a poster showing sustainability hints and tips from footballers and teams and giving recycling advice to readers. Planet friendly content is on the rise in the rest of our youth and children’s portfolio as well. We won a Products of Change Industry Collaboration award for our work with the Children’s Magazine Forum, who are collectively working together to reduce the emissions of the Youth & Children’s magazine sector and to increase the amount of climate content.
Ads too!
We’re delighted to be making such progress with our editorial content, but of course that is not the only content on our platforms. Our popular product reviews on the Good Food and MadeForMums websites now include sustainability criteria. This year, we launched IM Clear, an industry first sustainable advertising platform, which helps advertisers to achieve their specific sustainability goals while maximising media performance, by offering pre- and post-campaign ESG reporting and analysis.
We’re currently auditing the content of our ads to measure how many sustainable products we advertise and / or to see if they highlight sustainable living.
We have a sustainable advertising strategy which focuses on increasing the amount of BCorps and Change Brands that we work with. And our in-house agency, Imagine, have all received Ad Green training and are endeavouring to normalise climate action in the ads that we create. We’re participating in the Ad Net Zero Every Brief Counts pilot and won an Ad Net Zero ‘Best Practice by a Media Owner’ award for our work.
Our greatest opportunity to make a difference is what and how we communicate with our audiences. Ensuring our content reflects the reality we live in and the change we need serves both our company mission and our audience needs. Incorporating sustainable content across our platforms is not just beneficial, it is essential. It fulfils our social mandate, unlocks substantial business opportunities, drives creative innovation and aligns with the desires of our audience.
*Study published in Nature Climate Change in 2025 surveyed 130,000 people across 125 countries and found that 89% want stronger governmental efforts against climate change. However, many individuals underestimate how widely their views are shared, which suppresses activism and expression — a phenomenon also attributed to pluralistic ignorance.
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
