REPORT: The F-List 2022 Comprehensively Exposes Over 230 Ad and PR Agencies Working with Fossil Fuel Industry
CONTACT: Sam Narr, sam.narr@kibbokiftagency.com, +44 7840 145031 (WhatsApp preferred)
Independent analysis from campaign groups Clean Creatives and Comms Declare reveals over 230 agencies working on global strategies used to greenwash by corruption, lobbying and slick communications campaigns.
Monday 19 September 2022, New York City, New York: Launching at the start of Climate Week NYC, a second co-authored report, The F-List 2022, is released by industry campaign groups Clean Creatives and Comms Declare, revealing an extensive insight into the full mechanics of greenwashing by key influence and opinion shapers globally.
The independently researched F-List 2022 report is split into four parts. It focuses on the last 15 years of activism to limit fossil fuel campaigns, features a tabled long-list to explicitly name the 239 Advertising and PR agencies currently working with Big Oil, moves on to a series of global case studies and ends with a current evaluation of the status of each major advertising company compiled using web archives.
The F-List 2022 reveals newly-uncovered information on the broad scale of the ad industry’s collaboration with the companies that are responsible for the climate emergency. Following last year’s groundbreaking report, the 2022 edition of the F-List includes a greater focus on Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions, showcasing the agencies actively under contract with the fossil fuel industry to aid them in covert attempts to greenwash their records.
Key findings include:
239 agencies from major industry holding companies and independent companies have recently worked with fossil fuel companies. The vast majority of this work is not shared via agency channels or with clients whose work may be affected by greenwashing claims by oil companies.
At least 17 agencies are working for Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest polluter, including a previously undisclosed Interpublic Mediabrands agency, Well7. Interpublic agencies McCann, UM, and Jack Morton have also led substantial work for Aramco, with all holding companies having some connection to the world’s largest oil company and funder of human rights abuses.
Coal giant Glencore is being referred to Australian regulators over its brand campaign that features EVs, solar panels and wind turbines - but doesn’t mention Glencore’s primary business, coal. This complaint follows the barring of two employees of Anacta Strategies from lobbying the Queensland government. Glencore secured a lucrative bailout while employing Anacta.
Edelman retains its role as the independent agency doing the most work for fossil fuel companies, despite a pledge in early 2022 to review its client policy. Some small signs of progress at the PR giant can be seen, but the company remains committed to working with polluters.
Detailed case studies of Glencore (the world’s largest thermal coal exporter), Saudi Aramco (the world’s largest oil company and polluter overall) and Sasol and FCB (South Africa’s biggest petrochemical company) reveal the unscrupulous marketing strategies executed to greenwash and mislead consumers. Expect verified reports of bribery, price fixing, continuing to profit during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, aggressive advertising placements attacking indigenous communities that oppose expansion plans, and the revealing of a vast underbelly of advertising agencies that support human rights violations.
The F-List 2022 scrutinizes sustainability statements from companies Dentsu, Edelman, Havas, Interpublic Group (IPG), Omnicom, Publicis and WPP and compares them with the records of their clients. While the report found that most agencies have erased references to fossil fuel clients from their websites, Clean Creatives and Comms Declare uses web archives to uncover the links despite the sustainability commitments and net zero pledges most have made.
“Advertising and PR companies have had decades of warnings that their relationships with fossil fuel companies are harming their reputation and their clean clients. Until now, executives have chosen to ignore those warnings, with serious consequences for the planet and their ability to attract and retain young talent. Over 400 agencies have pledged not to work with fossil fuels because working with polluters is bad for business and bad for the planet.” Duncan Meisel, Executive Director, Clean Creatives
“At least nine Australian advertising and PR agencies are helping the coal giant Glencore portray itself as part of a clean energy future while the company is actually expanding coal operations. Agency executives need to wake up and realise they are actively helping the corporations creating global warming, which is generating unprecedented disasters around the globe.” Belinda Noble, Comms Declare
“Within weeks of launching the Clean Creatives campaign, we already have over 20 agencies who have taken the pledge to decline work from the fossil fuel industry, and we have received significant media coverage. This shows that in the wake of devastating droughts and floods in South Africa made worse by climate change, there is a strong appetite for a cleaner, more ethical advertising industry. The agencies greenwashing for the likes of Sasol, one of the world’s biggest emitters, have a moral responsibility to refuse work which is harmful to people and the planet.” Stephen Horn, Clean Creatives South Africa Director
“As the climate crisis progresses unchecked, Seventh Generation has taken inspiration from Clean Creatives and others to take a new approach to understanding the climate impact of our business: follow the money. Every year we funnel millions of dollars into ancillary services to support our business, including creative and marketing services. Every one of those dollars can either support an economic system that extends our dependence on fossil fuels or can help to speed the transition to a just renewable energy economy. There’s no better moment for responsible client-side businesses to look critically at their ancillary services and ensure that they’re aligned with a safe climate future.” Kate Ogden, Advocacy and Movement Building Manager, Seventh Generation
“As the climate crisis accelerates and extreme weather destroys the homes and livelihoods of millions across the globe—and as, according to a WMO report, heat, drought, and flood costs the world 200 million US dollars and kills hundreds of people every single day—it is unconscionable that any PR firm would help greenwash the actions of the companies doing the most to prevent the necessary transition to a clean, safe energy system. Like the fossil fuel companies themselves, these advertising firms have blood on their hands. History will condemn those who continue to encourage the public to buy oil and gas, but it will celebrate those who changed course and told the stories of a new economy and a livable future.” Dr. Genevieve Gunther, End Climate Silence
Clean Creatives and Comms Declare will be hosting a press conference to launch the release of the report at 12:00 pm Eastern Time on 19 September 2022 at Nomadworks, 1216 Broadway, 2nd Floor. They will be joined by Seventh Generation, who will be releasing a new sustainability report examining the climate impact of their relationships with banks, contractors, and service providers. Clean Creatives will live stream the conference on their Twitter page - twitter.com/cleancreatives - and accept questions digitally.
The timing of the press conference coincides with the beginning of Climate Week NYC, which starts on 19th September 2022 and ends on 25th September 2022.
To read The F-List 2022 report in full, visit cleancreatives.org/learn-2022.
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About Clean Creatives
Clean Creatives has mobilized over 400 agencies and 1000 individuals who have taken the pledge to not work with fossil fuels, including brand commitments from Everlane, Gentleman Farmer, and S’well. We created an open letter signed by 273 creative professionals under 30 who promise that they will not work for fossil fuel clients. In partnership with the Union of Concerned Scientists, we also released a letter from 450 scientists condemning the advertising and PR industry’s work with fossil fuels.
Clean Creatives Website: cleancreatives.org
Clean Creatives Twitter: @CleanCreatives
Clean Creatives Instagram: @clean_creatives
Clean Creatives Director Duncan Meisel Twitter: @duncanwrites
About Comms Declare
Comms Declare has more than 360 members and has facilitated over 200 health professionals and organizations to sign an open letter calling for bans on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorships in Australia. Most recently, Comms Declare launched an effort to ban fossil fuel companies from advertising in public, the Fossil Ad Ban, which has already pushed several councils, including Sydney, Australia, to consider a ban.
Website: commsdeclare.org
Twitter: @CommsDeclare
Instagram: @commsdeclare
About Kate Ogden, Seventh Generation
Kate Ogden is the Advocacy and Movement Building Manager at Seventh Generation. She leads the company’s advocacy work through partnership with advocacy organizations at the forefront of the climate justice movement. Prior to Seventh Generation, Kate spent 12 years at the global environmental organization Greenpeace. Over the past 15 years, Kate has developed and implemented advocacy campaigns on climate justice, toxics regulation, deforestation, protecting our oceans, and protecting the right to protest.
Kate Ogden LinkedIn: @kogden
Seventh Generation Website: www.seventhgeneration.com
About Dr. Genevieve Guenther
Dr. Genevieve Guenther is an author, climate activist, and native New Yorker. An expert in climate communication and fossil-fuel disinformation, she is the founding director of End Climate Silence and affiliate faculty at The New School, where she sits on the board of the Tishman Environment and Design Center. Dr. Guenther advises activist groups, corporations, and policymakers, and she serves as an Expert Reviewer for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Her next book, The Language of Climate Politics, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Website: www.genevieveguenther.com
Twitter: @DoctorVive
LinkedIn: @genevieveguenther