Clean Creatives

Fossil fuel corporations are the world’s leading polluters and have for decades been known to lobby against climate action. Today, even as their campaigns often focus on renewable energy, up to 99 pct. of their financial investments are spent on finding and drilling for more oil and gas [1]. It seems that the oil and gas industry is trying to change its image without changing its practices, with the advertising and PR industry actively helping them craft this image.

The Clean Creatives initiative aims to harness the power of this movement by bringing together leading advertising and PR agencies, their employees and clients to address the sector's engagement with the fossil fuel industry. They do this by focusing on three different areas:

1. Putting advertising agency brands and their work for the fossil fuel industry in the spotlight: Clean Creatives name the names of agencies that are working with fossil fuel clients identify the specific ways they are contributing to pollution – and lift up those who take affirmative steps to guarantee themselves as fossil fuel free.
2. Working with creative talent to empower their vision for a fossil fuel free future: Clean Creatives are increasingly exercising their power as employees in a variety of ways. Clean Creatives is helping this developing ecosystem of employee activism by organising pledges not to work with fossil fuel clients.
3. Encouraging clients to drop advertising and PR agencies working for fossil fuel companies: Many large corporations now have ambitious sustainability strategies that aim to create a cleaner future. Clean Creatives make the argument that these companies should not be paying the advertising and PR firms that are making a cleaner future so much harder to realise.

To date, 210 agencies and 600 creatives have taken the pledge not to work for the fossil fuel industry.