In 2021 Sky launched a competition for the £250,000 Fund which either supports sustainability in the media sector or helps environmentally focused businesses gain media awareness through providing funding for the creation of advertisements. Sky has now announced the 2023 winners for the latter, with five businesses being selected to receive the £250,000 prize to aid them in the creation of an advert.

All five businesses are environmentally focused, portraying the drive towards sustainability and a greener manufacturing process which Sky is backing. These brands include Upcircle Beauty, Ocean Bottle, Milliways, Grub Club and Oceansaver.

Upcircle Beauty is a skin care and beauty company using upcycled materials to manufacture their products. Their process for their products sets them apart from other beauty and skincare brands as instead of using chemicals to create their products, they recycle used coffee grounds into body scrubs and they prevent the waste of oats, by crushing them into powder and are included as an ingredient in their facial cleanser. On top of this, Upcircle also includes a refill scheme, taking their green, environmental and sustainable drive a step further.

Ocean bottle a British certified B Corp Brand who produce reusable water bottles was another successful company. Half of Ocean Bottle’s work is to encourage people to use reusable water bottles instead of single-use plastic water bottles. The other half of their work is to fund the management of plastic waste to prevent plastic pollution in water.

Milliways is a plastic-free chewing gum company who have created a green alternative to normal chewing gum. This brand has created four different flavours and their brand stands on four different values. These are plant-powered, zero plastic ingredients, biodegradability and planet friendly. These values result in less plastic waste and a much greener and sustainable approach to chewing gum.

Grub Club is a pet food brand which manufactures pet food using insect protein in place of fish or livestock protein. This is a much better method of production, as insect farming is less carbon-intensive, therefore using insect protein reduces the carbon footprint of the food.

The final business to win was greener cleaning products manufacturer OceanSaver. This company produces cleaning products which offer households a plastic-free and zero-waste solution to household cleaning. The cleaning products are eco-friendly, innovative, non-toxic and 100% plant-based.

Fiona Ball, Sky’s group director of ‘Bigger Picture’ and sustainability, said: “Over the last two years, the Sky Zero Footprint Fund has helped produce 10 exceptional adverts, propelling sustainable brands’ messages onto television to inspire wide, tangible behavioural change. Advertising can play a key role in raising awareness of climate issues and inspiring changes in daily habits, so we look forward to seeing the 2023 winners’ adverts on our TV channels.”

The next steps will be the winning companies producing adverts and one of the adverts will be shown on Sky and gain an additional £750,000 in media value.