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A global report has called out over 90 Australian advertising, marketing and PR agencies for lobbying fossil fuel work such as oil, gas and coal.
The study on promoting fossil fuels, which was done by Comms Declare and Clean Creatives, found that several agencies were advocating for non-renewable energy sources despite the Australian Government’s commitment to clean energy.
Comms Declare founder Belinda Noble stated that thanks to a lobbying firm that helped “put a lump of coal into Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s hand in parliament”, PR and advertising companies are now promoting and greenwashing Australia’s ‘gas-fired recovery’.
Lobbyist Statecraft Pty Ltd, which is owned by the Priebe Family Trust, topped the global report by representing seven fossil fuel clients. This is followed by Hawker Britton with four clients.
Meanwhile, gas producer Santos was found to have employed six agencies in recent years:
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) and Ampol follow after Santos, with both companies employing five agencies.
The study also found that multinational companies WPP and Omnicom have significantly influenced the local market. WPP has employed the following eight local agencies to represent fossil fuel companies despite its own pledge to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2025:
Although Wavemaker in Australia no longer works for Chevron, their global contract is still in place. Omnicom has also employed three ad agencies, GRACosway, Marketforce and Marketforce North, for the same reason.
Both multinational companies have not commented on this.
“The most important step any agency can take to address the climate crisis is to rule out working with fossil fuel companies,” Director of Clean Creatives Duncan Meisel said.
“We need creatives and communications experts to bring their full energy towards ending this crisis, not extending it.”
Source: AdNews. Content has been edited for style and length.
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