Ad giant WPP reported to global watchdog for promotion of polluting clients
Lawyers have filed a complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on behalf of environmental campaigners.
Campaigners have reported advertising giant WPP to an international corporate watchdog over its work for polluting clients including fossil fuel companies.
The complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by the New Weather Institute and Adfree Cities says the firm is in breach of its international guidelines on corporate responsibility.
It alleges WPP’s work for clients including Shell, BP, British Airways, HSBC, Ford and Coca Cola “directly increases demand for carbon-intensive products and undermines global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.
According to WPP’s 2023 Annual Report, the company’s policy “is not to take on any client work, including lobbying, designed to frustrate the objectives of the Paris Agreement”.
However, the complaint says this statement is inconsistent with WPP’s work to promote fossil fuel companies and other polluters, and that working for such clients opens WPP to the risk of greenwashing.
The legal documents, written by barristers at Doughty Street Chambers, said that the firm has failed to meet OECD guideline requirements for corporations to act sustainably and responsibly, highlighting advertising’s central role in “driving demand for high-carbon products and delaying the energy transition”.
It asks that WPP disclose the environmental impacts of its work, including its “advertised emissions”, implement meaningful due diligence processes and align its operations with internationally recognised climate and human rights standards.
If WPP does not take these steps, the campaigners ask for the OECD to find the firm in breach of its guidelines.
Dr Veronica Wignall, co-director at Adfree Cities, said: “I look around and see ads everywhere for SUVs, plastic polluter giants and long distance flights, in between newsreels of climate disasters and nature loss.
“It is now both morally unforgivable and a legal risk to do promotional work for toxic brands like Shell and Coke.
“WPP is currently working against the greener, fairer future the world urgently needs; we’re calling on WPP to live up to its climate pledges and stop promoting polluters.”
Harj Narulla, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers – who co-wrote the complaint, said it marks a “step-change” in legal risk for advertisers working to facilitate fossil fuel companies and other major polluters.
“Our complaint clearly shows that by representing high emitting clients, WPP is in breach of its human rights, climate and environmental duties under the OECD Guidelines, he said.
“WPP must disengage from these clients and start meeting its due diligence and disclosure obligations.”
Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said: “WPP’s oil company clients have publicly ripped up green promises, so to say they’re helping them do better is either disingenuous or self-deluding.”
“Advertisers are working on briefs that deliberately target young people, politicians and consumers with misleading ads and pro-polluter messages.”
A WPP spokesperson said: “Contrary to the claims being made, we adhere to the highest regulatory standards in our work for clients.
“If the UK and other countries want stronger economic growth and the benefits this brings to society, companies need to be able to market their goods and services, within a clear framework of rules and codes of practice.
“Along with our clients and the rest of the advertising industry, we take great care to comply with all marketing regulation, and we are proud to act as a catalyst for growth across every sector of the economy.”
A spokesperson for the Advertising Association said: “It is important to remember that advertising plays a fundamental role in supporting businesses to generate jobs, compete, innovate, and invest in products and services that will serve the economy, now and in the future.
“All advertising in the UK must comply with strict content rules enforced by the ASA and the regulations on environmental claims must also comply with the (Competition and Markets Authority’s) green claims code.”
