Latest reports have shown that Public relations giant, Edelman, who works for Shell, one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, will help COP30 host-nation Brazil hone its media strategy for this year’s UN climate conference.
Edelman was awarded the $835,000 contract this month via a UN agency to help Brazil’s COP30 team “craft a strategic narrative”, manage international media relations, create digital content and navigate any PR crises at November’s summit, according to the agreement filed with the US government.
The same executive overseeing the firm’s work with Shell in Brazil – where the energy company is ramping up oil and gas output – will also work on the COP30 contract.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which managed the contracting process for the COP30 presidency, told Climate Home that Edelman’s selection did not contravene its rules on conflicts of interest. However, critics say the PR agency’s fossil fuel-related work alone should exclude it from undertaking media relations at the UN climate talks.
“Edelman has obvious conflicts of interest and is completely unsuited for a role at the climate talks,” said Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, a campaign group of PR professionals calling for agencies to stop working for fossil fuel clients.
Rachel Rose Jackson, director of climate research and policy at the NGO Corporate Accountability, said that “having a fossil fuel supporter and climate crisis enabler playing a key role in COP30 is egregious”.
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“We are not going to save the planet with a snazzy PR spin,” she said.
Calls are growing for public relations and advertising companies to stop promoting fossil fuel producers as the world battles to reduce carbon emissions. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, a vocal advocate of climate action, has described PR firms that work with fossil fuel companies as “Mad Men … fuelling the madness”.
Asked about Edelman’s appointment, a spokeswoman for Guterres said he reiterated his call to all PR and advertising companies to “stop taking on new fossil fuel clients and set out plans to drop your existing ones”.
Edelman, which renewed its global partnership with Shell last year, has repeatedly come under fire from climate campaigners for its long-standing association with the fossil fuel industry.
Meisel said the firm’s messaging advice at COP30 could be compromised by its work with big polluters. “The COP presidency has no guarantee Edelman’s advice will be serving the interests of the planet,” he said.
Bronwen Tucker, public finance manager at Oil Change International, an advocacy group, called Edelman’s involvement in COP30 a “five-alarm conflict of interest”, adding “there is no firewall or contract clause strong enough” to prevent conflicting interests.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News.
