London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

A Large PR Firm Pledged To Fight Climate Change. Then It Took Millions From A Notorious Fossil Fuel Trade Group.

A Large PR Firm Pledged To Fight Climate Change. Then It Took Millions From A Notorious Fossil Fuel Trade Group.

Edelman, a PR firm that’s pledged to “work with an environmental conscience,” was paid $4 million to promote one of the most extreme fossil fuel trade groups in the country, new tax filings show.

Edelman, one of the largest public relations firms in the world, has pledged never to work with climate deniers and proudly touts its work on environmental justice campaigns with brands like Tazo Tea.

But newly released tax filings obtained by BuzzFeed News show that in 2019 the company accepted more than $4 million from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a major US oil trade organization that even Shell and BP had recently dumped for its aggressive opposition to popular climate solutions.

"Edelman is basically misleading the public about its so-called green reputation,” Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Brown University who studies climate lobbying and advertising, told BuzzFeed News.

The global public relations powerhouse has roughly 6,000 employees working to “promote and protect” prominent brands like Ikea, KFC, and Dove. Selling its own socially conscious image, the company has repeatedly stressed its commitment to efforts to “reduce emissions,” “work with an environmental conscience,” and “lead in the transition to sustainable and socially responsible business models.” On its website, Edelman proudly declares it worked with cleantech companies “long before climate change became a buzzword.”

But in recent years, Edelman has faced a backlash, both publicly and internally, over its willingness to take on high-profile campaigns for clients that are big polluters.

After four high-level executives quit in 2015 citing this issue, the firm publicly pledged never to work with coal clients or climate deniers. The vague commitment left the door open to a broad range of work for fossil fuel businesses or companies that have fought against regulations cutting carbon pollution.

“Right now the only categorical exclusion we have is on climate denial and coal,” Michael Stewart, then a top Edelman executive, told the Guardian in 2015. “When you are trying in some way to obfuscate the truth or use misinformation and half-truths that is what we would consider getting into the work of greenwashing, and that is something we would never propose or work we would support our client doing.”

But AFPM, a trade group that pulled in more than $55 million in revenue in 2019 alone, has aggressively opposed climate action and provided funding to the Heartland Institute, a climate denial group. AFPM has paid Edelman at least $12 million for public relations work from 2017 to 2019, tax filings show.

AFPM has taken some of the most extreme positions among fossil fuel trade groups, including helping create Energy4Us, a group that ran Facebook ads supporting the Trump administration’s rollbacks of national fuel efficiency standards without initially disclosing its ties to the oil and gas industry. The trade group also helped fund a campaign opposing a carbon tax in Washington state.

The trade group’s hardline climate policies prompted Royal Dutch Shell to announce in the spring of 2019 that it would not be renewing its AFPM membership, followed by the French oil company Total and the UK giant BP. All three oil companies, which are among the world’s top climate polluters, cited the trade group’s opposition to a carbon tax and lack of support for the Paris climate agreement in their decisions to quit.

AFPM is “not technically denying climate change but they might as well be,” said Andrew Logan, senior director of the oil and gas industry program at the corporate sustainability group Ceres.

“The only way to understand their policy positioning,” Logan added, “is that they will support any policy that encourages more use of oil products and they will oppose any policy that would lead to less consumption of oil products.”

Edelman did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what PR work it did for AFPM or if the group is still one of its clients.

AFPM also did not respond to a list of detailed questions from BuzzFeed News. But in a statement, it said, “We advocate for public policies that enable our members to safely and sustainably provide the fuels and petrochemicals that the world’s growing populations and economies need to thrive.” The trade association added, “We unequivocally acknowledge that climate change is real and that we have a role to play in reducing global GHG emissions.”

Richard Edelman, president and CEO of the public relations company


The fossil fuel industry is a huge potential source of revenue for public relations firms. Research by the Brown sociologist Brulle found that five big oil companies combined have “spent nearly $3.6 billion in advertising purposes for corporation promotion” from 1986 to 2015.

In addition to Edelman, AFPM paid another public relations firm, Singer Associates, roughly $14.5 million from 2017 to 2019. Singer Associates, based in San Francisco, has worked closely with Chevron on an “aggressive” crisis campaign after it was accused of environmental damage in Ecuador. Singer Associates also led a public relations campaign aimed at improving perception of Chevron's Bay Area refinery, where a 2012 fire led roughly 15,000 local residents in a low-income community to seek medical treatment.

Singer Associates “is honored to work for AFPM and Chevron,” Sam Singer, the firm’s president, told BuzzFeed News in an email, adding: “Our agency supports the Paris Agreement and is committed to helping to address climate change. Our work for AFPM and Chevron reflects our philosophy and beliefs.”

“As a policy, we do not discuss the details of work we perform for our clients,” Singer continued. “With that said, we did not work on Energy4Us.”

Edelman also did not respond to questions about whether it was involved in the Energy4Us campaign.

Edelman recently became a target of a public pressure campaign dubbed “Clean Creatives,” which is trying to get public relations firms and ad agencies to commit to refusing future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and front groups.

And sometime over the past year, the firm quietly changed the section of its website dedicated to its “Position on Climate” to a position on “Energy and the Environment.”

In recent blog posts, CEO Richard Edelman has heralded the business community for being “prepared to take the lead in fighting the twin evils of climate change and inequality” and urged companies to consider setting climate science–based targets.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×