PR companies ditch climate change denial campaigns

Who's Abbott going to get to sell his gov then? Large advertising firms are now actively pulling out of any campaigns that involve climate change denial. I get the feeling the world is changing rapidly now towards green energy and away from dirty fuels. Meanwhile the gov wants to build a bloody great coal mine in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef.

Some of the world’s top PR companies have for the first time publicly ruled out working with climate change deniers, marking a fundamental shift in the multi-billion dollar industry that has grown up around the issue of global warming. 

Public relations firms have played a critical role over the years in framing the debate on climate change and its solutions – as well as the extensive disinformation campaigns launched to block those initiatives. 

Now a number of the top 25 global PR firms have told the Guardian they will not represent clients who deny man-made climate change, or take campaigns seeking to block regulations limiting carbon pollution. Companies include WPP, Waggener Edstrom (WE) Worldwide, Weber Shandwick, Text100, and Finn Partners. 

“We would not knowingly partner with a client who denies the existence of climate change,” said Rhian Rotz, spokesman for WE. 

Weber Shandwick would also not take any campaign to block regulations cutting carbon emissions or promoting renewable energy. “We would not support a campaign that denies the existence and the threat posed by climate change, or efforts to obstruct regulations cutting greenhouse gas emissions and/or renewable energy standards,” spokeswoman Michelle Selesky said. more