UN Chief Calls on Advertising and PR Agencies to Stop Fuelling Climate Disinformation

“Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones,” said Guterres.

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In a pivotal speech at the American Museum of Natural History in New York to mark World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to ban fossil fuel advertising in the same way they restricted tobacco.

“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. They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men fuelling the madness,” the UN chief said.

The speech comes as the EU weather monitoring agency Copernicus confirmed that May was the hottest on record, marking one year of record-breaking temperatures and the 11th consecutive month that temperatures breached the 1.5C global warming threshold set in the Paris Agreement.

So far, the world has warmed by 1.2C compared to pre-industrial times. The burning of coal, natural gas, and oil for electricity and heat is the single-largest source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the primary drivers of global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere and raising Earth’s surface temperature. Global fossil fuel consumption has more than doubled in the last 50 years, as countries around the world aim to improve their standards of living and economic output. In 2023, all three of the most potent GHGs – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide – reached record highs.

In his speech, Guterres said advertising and PR agencies as well as news media and tech companies are enabling planetary destruction and urged them to stop promoting fossil fuels and drop existing clients. “Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet – they’re toxic for your brand,” he said.

Fossil fuel giants have repeatedly used international events, social media platforms, and influencers to promote their planet-warming activities.

A 2023 analysis by the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) found that major fossil fuel corporations pumped millions of dollars into digital advertising in the lead-up to COP28, the year’s most important climate summit. The UN conference is notorious for allowing fossil fuel lobbyists to join the talks. According to an analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, at least 2,456 representatives from the world’s largest polluters were granted access to the talks in Dubai last year. At COP27 in Glasgow, the number was 636.

In May of last year, CAAD also accused video streaming platform YouTube of profiting from ads on climate disinformation videos. The global coalition of over 50 leading climate and anti-disinformation organizations identified 200 examples of YouTube videos containing climate misinformation and disinformation, which collectively served ads to over 73 million viewers.

FIFA’s four-year global partnership deal with Saudi Aramco, one of the largest oil companies in the world, to sponsor the 2026 men’s World Cup as well as the Women’s World Cup in 2027, is just another example.  

“Banning fossil fuel advertising and forcing the PR sector to cut ties with systemically polluting companies is a clear necessity for building a cleaner and fairer future,” said ClientEarth Lawyer Johnny White. “We can either have a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, or we can have fossil fuel industry influence continuing to permeate our societies and subvert climate action. We can’t have both.”