Edelman among agencies accused of ‘greenwashing’ the UAE for UN climate talks

Clean Creatives wants the industry to know which PR and ad agencies are working for one of the top oil producers in the world.

The climate activist coalition, which in September debuted an out-of-home (OOH) marketing campaign to name and shame agencies that work with fossil fuel companies, this week published its “COP28 F-List,” a report detailing the ad and PR agencies that worked with the United Arab Emirates on its campaign to host this year’s United Nations annual climate change conference, COP28. According to Clean Creatives, the UAE, which is reportedly expanding further into oil and gas production, worked with 10 agencies, including Edelman, over 20 years to engage in “greenwashing” to improve the country’s climate reputation.

Edelman, Clean Creatives claims, organized meetings with political leaders and facilitated the creation of the UAE’s buzzy zero-waste, zero-carbon Masdar City. According to the report, Edelman also spearheaded a campaign to have Masdar chosen as the headquarters for the International Renewable Energy Agency. “Since then, Edelman and other agencies have slowly helped the UAE build a larger political influence around climate and COP28 will be their crowning jewel,” the report reads.

Other agencies named in the report include communications agencies BCW and APCO.

Neither Edelman, BCW, nor APCO responded to Marketing Brew’s requests for comment by publication.

Behind the scenes: Clean Creatives compiled the COP28 F-List over the span of two months using data derived from PR and lobbyist government disclosures as well as previous reporting, Executive Director Duncan Meisel told Marketing Brew. The effort from the group draws attention to greenwashing efforts that suggest the energy transition needed to fight climate change is “a far distant possibility,” ignoring or obfuscating the need for large-scale, immediate action , he said.

Meisel stressed that there has been considerable turnover in the agencies the UAE has hired.

“You would think with a big multinational process like this that there would be a head agency in charge and they would coordinate other agencies, but there’s just been this cycle in and out,” he said. “Edelman was in charge and then they were out entirely, and then BCW was there and then they were out…It’s been very chaotic, which I think is striking, because I think it speaks to the challenge and the difficulty of doing what they’re trying to do.”

Again and again: The COP28 F-List is just the latest campaign from Clean Creatives to draw attention to agencies’ involvement in the climate crisis—and it’s not the first time it’s focused on Edelman. At Cannes in July, its members followed CEO Robert Edelman with a sign that read “This person works with fossil fuel clients,” and activists interrupted a panel COO Amanda Edelman participated in. In August, the group rolled out its “Creator’s Pledge” to urge creators to turn down partnerships with organizations that have vested interests in fossil fuels, and the following month, an OOH ad campaign for its industry-wide annual F-List accused Edelman of contributing to the climate crisis, as well as Publicis, Ogilvy, and McCann.