SBS continues to lead Australian media in sustainability with launch of SBS Brief Green

SBS Brief Green is designed to help brands with a toolkit of sustainability resources, including the decarbonisation of media allowing brands to reduce advertising emissions without disrupting media outcomes.

The national broadcaster also launches its first-ever SBS Sustainability Report.

SBS has launched a market-leading Sustainability Report at its 2026 Upfronts as the national broadcaster seeks to further drive its leadership position in the sustainability space.

SBS has unveiled its new SBS Brief Green, a product that provides marketers a sustainability toolkit that includes the ability to design a brand’s media plan to reduce advertising emissions without disrupting media outcomes.

The broadcaster is using the framework launched by Ad Net Zero to help brands build tailored and accessible solutions which are cost effective. It has also partnered with Scope3 to ensure campaigns booked using SBS Brief Green’s carbon optimised media plan is measured for emissions.

“SBS Brief Green is a response to brands who have come to us looking for the chance to align their media strategy with their wider business climate commitments in a cost-effective way,” said Lee Callagher, SBS Acting Director of Media Sales. “It is an opportunity to achieve premium exposure and at the same time lead the industry toward a more sustainable future.”

SBS Brief Green is the national broadcaster’s umbrella brand for actions that SBS Media is taking in the sustainability space. It includes a toolkit of resources including:

• Using Scope3 measurement in a new Carbon-Optimised Media Plan — designed to reduce advertising emissions without disrupting media outcomes.
• A new SBS On Demand sustainability hub, featuring powerful documentaries, wonderous landscapes, everyday heroes and sustainably made drama.
• Partnering with SBS CulturalConnect to help brands produce creative to support more sustainable consumer behaviours.

The national broadcaster has long been leading the Australian media market in driving sustainability. It was the first broadcaster to measure its internal emissions, move to 100% renewable energy, and set bold targets for Net Zero on operational and supplier emissions.

SBS was the first Australian broadcaster to use the albert Toolkit to measure and reduce production emissions, starting with the program The Cook Up with Adam Liaw. It was also the first Australian broadcaster to have its near- and long-term carbon reduction targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) earlier this year.

As of January 2025, the Australian government legislated climate-related financial disclosures, mandating emissions reporting with a phased rollout starting with the largest companies by revenue, assets and employee count.​

Acting SBS Managing Director, Jane Palfreyman, highlighted for the room the growing importance of sustainability as an issue for marketers and agencies. SBS also used the event to launch its first ever Sustainability Report, helping pave the way for others in the industry to follow. Click here to download the SBS Sustainability report.

“SBS has been well ahead of the pack on sustainability, well before many in media started taking Net Zero seriously,” said Palfreyman. “Supplier emissions make up a large proportion of businesses’ footprints – and media has a responsibility here too. This is an issue that is increasingly coming to the fore for all business leaders, particularly in our sector.

“Today, I’m proud to launch SBS’s first Sustainability Report. It shows the work we’re doing here at SBS and, we hope, inspires and demonstrates a path for others – be they brands, agencies, and yes, even our competitors – to follow.”

Partners Ad Net Zero and Scope3 welcomed SBS’s focus on sustainability as an important issue for marketers, brands and agencies.

“We’re delighted to see SBS putting a concrete plan in place to help advertisers reduce their emissions and support more sustainable behaviours, using the Ad Net Zero Action Plan,” said Arum Nixon, Australia Chapter Lead, Ad Net Zero. “Ad Net Zero relies on action from across advertising’s supply chain, and we applaud supporters like SBS taking bold steps to help that happen.”

“SBS continues to demonstrate exceptional leadership in sustainable media. Their ability to drive business growth while actively working to decarbonise digital advertising sets a powerful example for the industry,” said June Cheung, Head of JAPAC at Scope3.

“Meaningful change starts with measurement. Visibility into the carbon footprint of media is essential to making smarter, more impactful decisions. And as we have seen across our partners, sustainable media not only reduces emissions but also delivers better performance outcomes. If we want to make real progress as an industry, media buyers need more sustainable choices, and SBS is showing exactly how it can be done.”

For a pdf copy of this media release, click here.