How to Get Started With Clean Creatives
Welcome to Clean Creatives! If you’re part of an agency that has or is considering contracts with fossil fuel companies, this guide is here to help you get started with moving your agency towards going clean.
Have questions about this guide or anything else? Email duncan@fossilfree.media to set up a time to talk!
The goal of this guide is to help you build relationships with people who can change your agency’s policies.
We want to help you start to connect with a good mix of people who can help achieve change in your agency. It’s a starting place. Hopefully, by following these steps, you can bring together a diverse, engaged group of colleagues that can form a core team to lead the discussion at your agency.
What are the first steps to moving my agency off of fossil fuels?
A few principles...
You are not alone! You have potential allies at your agency, and at agencies around you. We’ve not seen a single instance of someone at an agency joining Clean Creatives, and finding no support from any of their colleagues. There’s always a place to begin the conversation, and good that can come from it.
The biggest part of an agency’s carbon footprint is its clients. Working for even one fossil fuel client can overwhelm the work agencies do to reduce electricity consumption, green production shoots, or offset the carbon impact of flights. Here’s an example of what we mean for the holding company IPG - just one contract for one oil company produced more carbon than the entire global holding company.
Keep the conversation going. More is more. The fundamental facts surrounding the role of fossil fuels, climate change, and the coming need to transform our industry’s relationship to polluters are strong. The story we have to tell is also strong. It’s likely that you will not receive an immediate yes, but the more you can ask questions, raise the issue, and invite polite discussion, the more impact you will have. It’s important to focus on keeping the conversation going, so that the core story and facts can’t be ignored.
Connect with a diverse group. We mean diversity in all senses - gender, race, sexuality, age, etc., as well as rank, role, discipline, and team. Climate change is a complex issue that affects people of different backgrounds differently, and everyone has a crucial story to share. Bringing together people from across departments and levels of seniority will give your team the perspective and impact you need to make change happen.
First steps to take:
Find everything that’s written down about your agency’s values, particularly as it relates to sustainability and social justice. Working for fossil fuel companies is inconsistent with the values of agencies who strive to practice sustainability or social justice. Knowing what explicit commitments your agency has made in these areas will give you a stronger starting point for your discussions about fossil fuel clients, and show that it is a step towards a stronger agency, not a weaker one.
The fossil fuel industry has an enormous extra burden on Black people, the poor, and other marginalized communities. If your company has committed to speaking out against racial violence in the form of police brutality, or white nationalist attacks, they should be equally committed to speaking out against the entrenched business practices of fossil fuel companies that sicken and kill along racial lines as well.
Identify the highest ranking person that you think is on your side, and reach out to them. Think about the leadership at your organization. Who is most likely to be open to this discussion, on a personal level? Ask for a personal meeting to share your feelings, and get their perspective on how to move the conversation forward.
Ask the right questions. Listen. Then keep asking. At the beginning, it’s probably not helpful to ask questions that put leaders on the backfoot. Instead, ask questions that help raise the issue of working with fossil fuels, and point out how it could become a risk to the agency, if it isn’t already.
We suggest sharing news about fossil fuel PR, with questions like “Where are we on working with these types of clients?” or “What’s our take on this?” — questions that highlight the potential risks, but don’t immediately introduce a defensive posture.
Listen carefully to who responds, and what they say. The people who speak up in agreement with ending fossil fuel work are the people you should talk to first when trying to build your team. Whenever you can, find ways to keep asking those questions.
Find staff-wide forums to raise the issue. Does your company do townhalls for staff? Is there a brown-bag or lunch-and-learn program that you could offer to present at? Does your staff Slack or Teams account include a general discussion space? These are the best places to start finding more people that may support a proposal to end fossil fuel contracts, and organize together.
Key articles and podcasts to read and share:
Stories about the ad industry and fossil fuels:
“More than 450 scientists call on PR and ad firms to cut their ties with fossil fuel clients” - Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/01/19/pr-firms-fossil-fuels-climate/
“Ad Agencies Step Away From Oil and Gas in Echo of Cigarette Exodus” - NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/business/media/climate-ad-agencies-fossil-fuels.html
“When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis” - New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-creatives-turn-destructive-image-makers-and-the-climate-crisis
“You Can't Be Committed to Racial Justice and Work for Fossil Fuel Companies” - Real Hot Take https://www.hottakepod.com/you-cant-be-committed-to-racial-justice/
“How Oil Companies Greenwash (and the Campaign To Make Them Stop)” - How to Save a Planet https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/xjhz7z6/how-oil-companies-greenwash-and-the
Drilled Season 3 - The Mad Men of Climate Change https://drillednews.com/drilled-podcast-season-3/
Stories about the impacts of fossil fuel pollution and climate change:
“Air pollution caused 1 out of 5 deaths in 2018—that's more than 8 million, study says” - phys.org https://phys.org/news/2021-02-air-pollution-deaths-2018that-million.html
“Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'”- BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58130705
Stories about how fossil fuel companies are avoiding investing in climate solutions:
Net Zero by 2050 Report - International Energy Agency https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050
Key quotes:
“The energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions today and holds the key to averting the worst effects of climate change, perhaps the greatest challenge humankind has faced.”
“All the technologies needed to achieve the necessary deep cuts in global emissions by 2030 already exist, and the policies that can drive their deployment are already proven.”
“There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway.”
The Oil and Gas Industry in Energy Transitions - International Energy Agency https://www.iea.org/reports/the-oil-and-gas-industry-in-energy-transitions
Key quote: “Investments in low-carbon businesses represent less than 1% of oil and gas companies capital expenditure”