Message From the Editor

“Mad Men fueling the madness.”

That’s how United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the ad agencies that help Big Oil greenwash their global mass pollution. In a landmark speech this week in New York City, Guterres urged nations to ban fossil fuel advertising and PR firms to stop taking on new fossil fuel clients and “set out plans to drop your existing ones.”

“Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet,” he said. “They are toxic for your brands.”

Finally, the world’s top diplomat is saying what DeSmog has been calling out for the past 18 years: that ad agencies, or “the Godfathers of climate chaos,” as the UN chief described them, help the fossil fuel industry spread disinformation and delay climate action.

Campaigners hailed Guterres’ speech as a watershed moment. However, some caution that fossil fuel companies will resist transitioning their businesses to follow this call to action.

“The companies that have done the most to cause the climate crisis are not showing any signs that they are genuinely acting as good faith partners in solving it,” David Tong, global industry campaign manager at Oil Change International, told DeSmog in an interview. 

“So it’s not a surprise – it’s a positive step forward – for Antonio Guterres to now call for a ban on fossil fuel advertising,” he said.

Since 2006, DeSmog has been uncovering the fossil fuel industry’s deceptions in advertising that Guterres pointed out. If you want to see more investigations, help us help you: Send us your story tip or feedback: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you power our journalism dedicated to climate accountability. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Geoff Dembicki/DeSmog

The False Claims on Food and Farming That May Sway EU Elections

— By Clare Carlile, Coen Ramaer, Laura Villadiego, Kevin Carboni, Marta Kasztelan, Katharina Wecker, Rachel Sherrington and Joey Grostern (14 min. read) —

As EU citizens continue to head out in their millions to cast their votes, DeSmog has identified seven prominent falsehoods about green reforms to food and agriculture that have dominated election campaigning across the continent. 

The misinformation about food and farming – which has cropped up on social media, in speeches, and at protest rallies – could influence voters at this week’s polls and shape political negotiations in the next Parliament, new analysis from DeSmog shows.

UN Chief Calls For Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising

— By Geoff Dembicki, Ellen Ormesher and TJ Jordan (6 min) —

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on governments to ban fossil fuel advertising and warned creative agencies to stop working for the industry.

“Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action — with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns,” Guterres told an event at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History.

Fossil Fuel Interests Spent Millions to Tank Clean Air Bills in Colorado

— By Joe Fassler (10 min. read) —

Fossil fuel interests spent millions of dollars in an effort to influence Colorado’s recent legislative session, a DeSmog analysis shows — and environmental advocates say the campaign helped to scuttle a raft of clean air bills.

Protect Colorado, a group that received more than $4 million from Chevron, Occidental, and other oil and gas interests, spent heavily to support pro-industry ballot initiatives before and during the session — a critical form of political leverage. Those efforts were aided by an extensive PR campaign spearheaded by the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group that spent an additional $3 million on lobbying, media buys, and digital ads from February through May, according to public financial disclosures. API lists Colorado’s three biggest oil and gas companies — Chevron, Civitas Resources, and Occidental — among its members.

No Environmental Review Required for Canada’s Largest Carbon Capture Proposal

— By Mitch Anderson (5 min. read) —

“Are you Canadians crazy?” That was the reaction from U.S. pipeline expert Richard Kuprewicz, when contacted by DeSmog about the proposed Pathways Alliance CO2 pipeline and storage hub that may proceed in the absence of a comprehensive review by either the federal or Alberta governments.

Internal government documents unearthed by the Narwhal show that Canada’s largest bitumen producers demanded assurances from Ottawa that one of the largest infrastructure projects in Canada would be exempt from the federal environmental assessment act. In Alberta, the member companies of the Pathways Alliance are breaking the project into 126 separate parts in an apparent effort to avoid triggering a provincial environmental assessment. What are they worried the public might find out?

The EU Elections Candidates Spreading False Narratives on Food and Farming

— By Rachel Sherrington, Katharina Wecker, Laura Villadiego, Kevin Carboni, Marta Kasztelan, Coen Ramaer and Clare Carlile (11 min. read) —

Politicians have used their significant online platforms to spread misinformation on food and farming ahead of the EU elections, a new analysis shows.

Up to 375 million voters from 27 countries are casting their votes this week (June 6-9) to elect 720 MEPs to represent them in the European Parliament.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Ogilvy

Ogilvy is a PR and advertising firm founded in 1948 based in New York, which now has 131 offices in 93 countries. Ogilvy has had decades-long relationships with oil and chemical companies, including British Petroleum (BP), Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute, and the American Chemistry Council. In the immediate aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion off the coast of Louisiana, Ogilvy managed BP’s social media response and the Deepwater Response website. In 2011, Ogilvy worked with ad agency Purple Strategies to create digital ads touting BP’s success in cleaning up the oil spill, while Ogilvy’s PR arm created a social media campaign to message that BP was responding responsibly to the spill. Ogilvy’s parent company, WPP, describes its climate change commitments on its website as follows: “We support urgent action to tackle the climate crisis through the Paris Climate Agreement and have been working to cut our carbon footprint since 2006.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.