REPORT: Clean Creatives Tracks Global Rise of Climate Litigation Cases from Fossil Fuel Advertising
Industry pressure group Clean Creatives releases report to sound the alarm about the increasing legal risks associated with fossil fuel advertising for agency partners
Austin, Texas: Public relations and advertising agencies are facing growing legal risks for their work with fossil fuel companies to spread climate disinformation, according to a new report released by Clean Creatives today.
The “Smoke and Mirrors: The Legal Risks of Fossil Fuel Advertising” report documents how the fossil fuel industry faces a tsunami of climate litigation cases – and how advertising and public relations companies could be caught up in the wave.
The fossil fuel industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and public relations each year, much of it spinning false and deceptive narratives to misinform the public. Many of the world’s largest agencies are complicit in these campaigns to deny climate science and greenwash polluting products.
As outlined in the report, many climate lawsuits now moving their way through the courts focus on these false advertising, misinformation, and denial campaigns – campaigns developed by some of the world's largest PR and advertising agencies. This creates serious reputational, business, and legal risks for agencies, who could find themselves testifying in court or even being held liable for damages connected to their false advertising.
While summarizing climate litigation cases, the 17-page report also covers various associated topics. Sections cover the growing global effort to financially divest from fossil fuels, holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their sustainability commitments, how governments are passing and updating laws to end fossil fuel advertising, and how agencies who continue to work with fossil fuel clients risk losing talent and face a backlash from their employees.
Key report findings:
As of May 2021, there were 1,841 ongoing or concluded climate litigation cases worldwide, with legal developments on the rise. Only 369 have concluded, with 58% of resolved cases (218 cases in total) having favorable outcomes for climate action.
The number of climate cases has more than doubled since 2017.
There are over 100 initiatives, campaigns, court cases, reports, pieces of scientific research and NGOs that are working to hold companies liable.
As an example of the increased susceptibility of legal and regulatory risks for the industry, McKinsey & Company was forced to pay nearly $600 million for marketing advice it gave to opiate makers. With this in mind, the top 5 advertising holding companies (WPP, IPG, Dentsu, Publicis and Omnicom) all currently work with fossil fuel clients to improve their public image and reputation.
In addition, Smoke and Mirrors includes three case studies that exemplify climate misinformation campaigns and when they have been challenged. These cases are ClientEarth against BP, Honolulu against Big Oil (BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell) and Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) against Shell.
Duncan Meisel, director of Clean Creatives
“Advertising and PR agencies are taking significant reputational, business, and legal risks when they work with fossil fuel companies to spread climate disinformation. This report is a reminder that this work isn’t just hurting the planet, it could end you up in court. Agencies have a clear choice: continue the dirty work of spreading lies on behalf of the fossil fuel industry or become a clean creative and help us save the climate. Time is running out.”
Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law
"The evidence is now overwhelming that fossil fuel companies have long recognized the climate risks of their products, yet aggressively misled consumers, investors, and decisionmakers about those risks for decades. As with tobacco companies before them, fossil fuel producers have relied on a network of front groups, public relations firms, and advertising agencies to perpetuate this deception. Even amidst mounting climate catastrophes, these industry climate deception and greenwashing efforts remain active, ongoing, and well-funded. But they no longer remain a secret. As fossil fuel companies face mounting litigation and investigation before courts, human rights bodies, and regulatory agencies worldwide, creative professionals may be asking whether they're next. And if they're not yet asking that, they should be.”
Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute
“From Congress to the courts, fossil fuel executives are increasingly facing the heat for their decades of lies and disastrous obstruction of climate progress. The advertising professionals running polluters’ deception campaigns should drop these clients now or be next in line for legal and reputational consequences.”
Camilla Bustos, co-founder of Law Students for Climate Accountability
“Thanks to the work of avid researchers, we now have voluminous records pointing to the ways in which the fossil fuel industry deceived consumers for decades regarding the effects of burning fossil fuels on our climate. Attorney Generals across the country have taken notice and have filed multiple lawsuits against companies that have engaged in false advertising and deliberately misrepresented the science in order to amplify their profits. Advertisement agencies should take notice: increasing legal and regulatory actions will affect their bottom lines if agencies fail to shift their practices.”
Kathy Mulvey, climate accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“For decades, fossil fuel companies have used disinformation to block climate action and protect their bottom lines. But after scientists helped to cut through their smokescreen, major oil and gas companies now face Congressional investigations, mounting pressure from their shareholders to take meaningful climate action, and a wave of litigation seeking to hold them accountable for climate damages and fraud. This report is a wake-up call to PR and advertising agencies that enabling the fossil fuel industry’s climate deception campaigns is not only risky for business, but also endangers life on Earth.”
Marco Simons, general counsel of EarthRights International
"For more than 50 years, fossil fuel companies like Exxon knew that their products would lead to climate catastrophe, but misled policymakers and the public through an elaborate disinformation campaign. In the past five years more than two dozen cities, counties and states have brought lawsuits seeking accountability for this malfeasance, and those cases are inching closer to trial every day. Still, fossil fuel companies continue to peddle climate misinformation, assisted in this deception by ad agencies and PR firms, who themselves face increasing risks of liability for promoting these misleading messages.”
In 2021, carbon emissions reached an all-time high of 36.3 gigatons, and fossil fuels and industry were responsible for over 90% of global CO2 emissions, making them the leading cause of global warming. A 2019 report from the United Nations Environment Program shows that the world is not on track to honor the Paris Agreement primarily because the fossil fuel industry is on track to produce double the coal, oil, and gas that we can burn by 2030.
To read the full report, visit cleancreatives.org/smoke-and-mirrors or learn more about Clean Creatives, see cleancreatives.org.
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Contact: sam.narr@kibbokiftagency.com or call +44784014031
About Clean Creatives
Clean Creatives is a not-for-profit industry pressure campaign created to expose the link between advertising and PR agencies and climate misinformation. Aiming to provide a solution for the industry, Clean Creatives gives agencies and employees a resource to hold their companies and business partners accountable to create a more sustainable future.
700+ creatives and 250+ agencies worldwide have signed the Clean Creatives pledge to decline future contracts with the fossil fuel industry or agencies that retain fossil fuel clients.
Clean Creatives is increasing media pressure and scrutiny on Ad and PR agencies to drop their fossil fuel contracts (Teen Vogue). Campaigns include an open letter released with the Union of Concerned Scientists that detail why 450 scientists who are calling on PR and creative agencies to drop fossil-fuel clients (Washington Post), exposing Edelman's work with Exxon and Shell (NY Times), and an Awards Show designed to expose greenwashing in the industry (Adweek).
Clean Creatives Website: cleancreatives.org
Clean Creatives Twitter: @CleanCreatives
Clean Creatives Instagram: @clean_creatives
Clean Creatives Director Duncan Meisel Twitter: @duncanwrites