What sustainability skills do marketers need to do their jobs responsibly?
You don’t need to become a climate scientist. But whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, agency owner or in-house marketer, you do need enough knowledge to recognise risk, ask better questions and avoid making claims you can’t support.
Why it matters 👉 With 90% of companies acknowledging the importance of sustainability in their marketing strategy, those without the right knowledge and credentials risk being left behind in meeting the escalating demand for sustainable marketing.
These five areas will help you see what you already know — and what to learn, verify or ask for help with next.
1. Understand the sustainability basics
Start with enough knowledge to understand the subject you’re communicating.
That means knowing the difference between climate and wider environmental impacts; understanding what carbon emissions are; and recognising that words such as sustainable, circular, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable do not mean the same thing.
You should be able to read a brief, question an assumption and spot when a complicated issue has been reduced to a neat but misleading message.
Your next step: Make a list of the sustainability terms you use in your work. Could you explain each one clearly, without relying on the campaign copy?
2. Make environmental claims responsibly
Environmental claims need to be clear, specific and supportable.
Broad language can create reputational risk when customers cannot tell what a claim refers to, how it was measured or what evidence sits behind it. A statement about one part of a product should not imply that the whole product — or the whole business — has a lower impact.
Before publishing a claim, ask:
- What exactly are we claiming?
- Which product, service or activity does it cover?
- What evidence supports it?
- Is anything important missing from the explanation?
This isn’t legal advice. It’s a reminder that responsible marketing includes checking the substance, not just polishing the wording.
3. Understand the impact of marketing itself
Marketing activity has its own footprint. Digital advertising, websites, email, print, events, photography, video production, packaging and promotional materials all use energy or resources.
The practical skill is not calculating every impact yourself. It is knowing where waste may be hiding and asking whether the activity is earning its place.
Could you reduce unnecessary versions, print fewer copies, reuse existing assets, simplify a shoot or stop running media that produces no useful result?
Use our guide to make your marketing less wasteful and more sustainable for a quick place to start.
4. Understand how marketing influences consumption
Marketing does more than promote products. It influences what people buy, how much they buy, how often they replace things and how thoughtfully they make decisions.
That makes persuasion part of the sustainability question.
Genuine urgency and clear recommendations can help customers choose. Artificial scarcity, constant upselling and pressure to replace something that still works can encourage unnecessary consumption.
Responsible marketing helps people understand what suits them, how long something should last and how to care for, repair, reuse or dispose of it.
Ask: Are we helping someone make a considered decision, or simply pushing them to buy more?
5. Know when to bring in specialist expertise
Carbon literacy includes knowing enough to ask the right questions — and recognising where your own expertise ends.
A marketer can shape a clear message, but may not be qualified to assess a product’s full environmental impact, interpret technical data or decide whether a claim meets legal requirements.
Know when to ask sustainability, product, operations, procurement or legal colleagues for evidence and review. If that expertise is not available inside the business, recommend independent specialist support rather than filling the gap with assumptions.
Good judgement sometimes means pausing the campaign until the answer is clear.
Could you confidently…
- explain the environmental claim you’re making?
- identify the evidence behind it?
- spot unnecessary waste in your marketing activity?
- explain how your marketing may influence consumption?
- recognise when you need specialist advice?
If one of those makes you hesitate, that’s your next learning priority.
