Global Ad giant(Interpublic Group "IPG") Broke 'Industry First' Climate Policy With Work for Saudi Aramco(world’s largest oil company) to influence government policymakers

The global advertising giant Interpublic Group (IPG) is facing allegations by staff that its rebrand of the world’s largest oil company violated a pledge to avoid work that could worsen the climate crisis.

Documents obtained by DeSmog show that a group of IPG’s London-based agencies created campaigns designed in part to convince government policymakers that Saudi Aramco was developing climate solutions — even as it planned to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in new oil and gas.

A dozen current and former IPG employees said the strategy appeared to breach IPG’s commitment to avoid projects “aimed at influencing public policy that seeks to extend the life of fossil fuels.” CEO Philippe Krakowsky had announced IPG’s policy as “a first for the industry” in September 2022 amid growing internal calls for him to act on climate — including a letter signed by more than 800 staff urging the agency to drop polluting clients.

Scientists agree that the world must rapidly transition from oil, gas, and coal. Burning these fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, which is fast creating an increasingly uninhabitable world of deadly droughts, floods, heatwaves and storms.

But the documents show that the underlying goal of IPG’s work for Aramco was to bolster the state-owned Saudi oil company’s “license to operate as part of the future energy landscape” — oil executive-speak for business as usual.

“This Aramco work was in direct contravention of [IPG’s climate] policy,” said one former employee who — like others quoted in this story — declined to be named for fear of professional repercussions. “Everything IPG does for its fossil fuel clients is aimed at influencing key decision-makers in corporate and political spheres, and making the fossil fuel revenue party last for as long as possible.”