Clean Creatives have a very long list of advertising and PRs that work with fossil-fuel companies. Take their pledge and refuse to

We have had many contacts with the advertising and comms industries over the years. Though it’s more precisely with individuals and subgroups who want to stop being part of the problem, in terms of intensifying consumerism, or contributing to the material excesses of a high-carbon society.

So it’s great to see this new initiative - Clean Creatives. CC’s aim is both to invite creative employees to commit to activities (and clients) in their work that are zero-carbon. But also to explicitly “name and shame” those organisations that are still working to promote and growth major fossil-fuel interests.

Here’s their core argument:

Approximately 90% of global carbon pollution comes from fossil fuels. In order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement, carbon pollution needs to decline 50% by 2030.

Despite this, every major oil and gas company is currently planning to continue their expansion of fossil fuel production. Currently, their business plans will ensure that the climate emergency continues, with worsening impacts particularly affecting poor, and vulnerable people worldwide.

Fossil fuel advertising and PR does not match business reality. Shell has admitted that their “operating plans and budgets do not reflect Shell’s Net-Zero Emissions target” that is widely featured in their advertising. In 2020 and 2021, 80% of Chevron advertisements mentioned sustainability, while only 1.8% of their capital spending went to non-oil and gas projects.

These ads are creating legal and reputational risk for agencies. Over 1800 cases are pending worldwide related to climate action, many of them focused on misleading advertising. Both Shell and BP have been rebuked by regulators in the Netherlands and UK, respectively, demanding that they end campaigns that mislead the public.

Now, fossil fuel advertisements have been banned in France, and bans are being considered many places elsewhere. There has never been a better time to drop fossil fuel clients.

Clean Creatives have an amazing page on their site called the “F-List” - a full inventory of 230+ ad/PR agencies, and their subsidiaries, who are currently involved in comms and strategic exercises with fossil-fuel companies (some grabs below):

If you’re working in this area, and you’d like to take their pledge, visit here. The full F-list report is here on PDF.