The Financial Times today published an expose asserting that IPG violated its own climate policy through its work promoting oil-producing giant Saudi Aramco and QatarEnergy.   

The story is based on an investigation by DeSmog which bills itself as an international journalism group dedicated to exposing greenwashing by major fossil fuel organizations and other environmental issues. It was written by T.J. Jordan.  

DeSmog talked to anonymous IPG staff and former staff and obtained company documents which the group said provide “a rare inside view of the role advertising and public relations agencies play in delaying climate action by promoting polluters as greener than they actually are, even as ad chiefs play up their climate credentials to placate feelings of complicity among staff.”  

DeSmog also produced a 60-second social media video and map based on its findings.  

The revelations come amid growing scrutiny of advertising and public relations firms’ role in climate greenwashing, and as IPG is being acquired by Omnicom, a deal the firms say is on schedule to be close in the second half of this year. It would create the world’s largest advertising group.  

IPG declined to comment to the Times or DeSmog and reconfirmed its no comment to MediaPost.  

A dozen current and former staff told DeSmog that IPG’s work advising Aramco to target policymakers appears to breach a 2022 IPG commitment not to work on projects “aimed at influencing public policy that seeks to extend the life of fossil fuels.”  

Employees told the organization that the QatarEnergy deal also violated IPG’s climate policy, which limits new clients to those aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target. QatarEnergy instead plans to increase production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 84% by 2031, despite scientists warning that such expansion is incompatible with the Paris goal. 

The full DeSmog report can be read here and FT story can be accessed here.