The World Out of Home Organization (WOO) has announced a high-powered ‘Sustainability in OOH’ panel for WOO’s first in-person MENA Forum, which will take place on February 15-17 in Dubai.

The panel will comprise panel moderator Ben Milne, Global Head of OOH dentsu.

Lenaic Pineau, JC Decaux Group Chief Sustainability and Quality Officer, Mathieu Verbraken, Business Development Manager, Daktronics and Tina Chikhani-Nader, Unilever Arabia Head of Media.

The panel will look at how sustainability impacts different elements of the OOH advertising value chain and how the industry is responding to it. Within the context of MENA, there will be a focus on what measures the industry is taking and what more it should it be doing. This will be part of an ongoing conversation, raising the profile of the subject across the whole OOH Eco-System.

WOO’s research has shown that many of its members are indeed taking this seriously looking at a whole range of initiatives from recycling materials, use of solar/wind power, net-zero targets and low energy lighting. However, the Survey also shows there is always scope to do more.

In addition to looking at current environmental practice initiatives, targets and challenges, the panel will take a longer-term view, examining the problems if little or nothing is done by the industry, and it will aim for a view on where the OOH industry should be in five years. 

In December WOO announced the creation of a Global Sustainability Task Force of hand-picked expert practitioners from all sides of the global industry led by blowUP media CEO and WOO board member Katrin Robertson.

WOO President Tom Goddard says: "Sustainability is one of the key issues facing all media in 2023 and beyond. Out of Home has a good story to tell but we need to become much better at telling it. This eminent panel, representing all sides of the marketing industry, will provide an invaluable guide."