THE COP28 F-LIST

The UAE could not host COP28 without ad and PR firms greenwashing for fossil fuels.

The reason that the UAE is able to host COP28 is because of the success of its greenwashing campaigns. 

Even though the UAE has the third largest plan “for oil and gas expansion in the world” and has not met its own renewable energy targets, it’s using the global platform of COP28 and PR and advertising influence to position itself as a climate leader. ADNOC intends to double its oil and gas production to 5 million barrels a day by 2027 and is investing $150 billion in expansion, despite warnings from the UN itself that countries must phase out fossil fuels. 

The conflicted leadership of COP28 has brought together a team of PR and advertising agencies with their own fossil fuel conflicts of interest. We found 18 agencies overall who have worked for COP28, the UAE, Masdar and ADNOC from 2021 to 2023.

Ten agencies working for the UAE and COP28 Presidency from 2021 to 2023 have simultaneously worked on 29 fossil fuel contracts, ranging from state-owned companies ADNOC and Masdar, to oil majors like ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco.

The remaining 8 agencies, who represented ADNOC and Masdar, have 27 relationships with fossil fuel polluters from 2021 to 2023, in the period leading up to the UN climate talks, showing the breadth of conflicts of interest shaping this COP.

The optics of oil: how PR and advertising agencies paved the way for an ADNOC-led COP

COP28 is the cherry on top of a 20-year PR plan to rebrand a petrostate as a global energy leader. The world’s largest stage for climate is a product of the UAE’s largest reputation campaign. In this report, we will investigate how agencies rebranded a petrostate, explore the campaigns and agencies linked to COP28, ADNOC and Masdar, and share the full list of oil and gas companies that COP28 agencies are working for.

In 2006, the UAE recognized that it had a reputation problem. Oil had historically been its main source of wealth, with fossil fuels contributing to 30% of its economy, but due to a domestic gas crisis, the UAE changed its communication strategy to present itself as a leader in renewable energy. The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) was founded by the state-owned investment fund Mubadala to support its mission of economic diversification. Masdar’s co-founder explained, “We’d like to be part of the energy solution. And, at the same time, we’d like to make some money.”

To do so, in 2007, they hired the largest PR firm in the world, Edelman, who is known for its shady business on fossil fuel lobbying and astroturf campaigns, despite its brand platform of trust. Over two years, Edelman organized a campaign to improve the UAE’s climate reputation, from organizing meetings with world leaders, including Queen Elizabeth and President George W. Bush, to launching two significant projects: Masdar City as “world’s first…zero-carbon [and] zero-waste city” and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, including a partnership with MIT. The Masdar City campaign was considered a huge success, because it received lots of global media coverage, including a spot on the front page of the New York Times. It gave Masdar and the UAE credibility amongst world leaders, such as George W. Bush who said “this country has gotten its wealth from the ground and is now reinvesting in alternative forms of energy” and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who called Masdar “an example to the world.”

Due to the success of the campaign, in 2009, Edelman successfully lobbied for Masdar City to be chosen as the global headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), from convincing the U.S. to support their bid to visiting over 100 countries to get their vote. Since then, Edelman and other agencies have slowly helped the UAE build a larger political influence around climate and COP28 will be their crowning jewel.

While Masdar was introduced as the UAE’s renewable energy company, it is now partially owned by ADNOC, which has pollution as its primary interest. Masdar and ADNOC’s rebrand has attempted to position them as a leader in the energy transition, rather than a key roadblock to climate action. 

Millions of dollars in PR and advertising campaigns to represent the UAE as a global leader in renewable energy have not changed the fundamentals of the country’s economy. The Statistical Review of World Energy shows that renewable energy consumption is only 1.38% of the UAE’s overall energy mix. By contrast, oil, natural gas and coal make up 95% of the UAE’s overall energy consumption.