Global advertising and public relations agencies hold more than 1,300 contracts with the oil and gas industry, according to the latest research from campaign group Clean Creatives – even as some of the world’s biggest polluters rake in record profits while the climate crisis becomes more and more dire..
In its annual “F-List” report, – which identifies relationships between advertising and public relations companies and the fossil fuel industry, – Clean Creatives found evidence that 802 agencies have worked with some of the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitters during 2025 and 2026.
These agencies serve the fossil fuel industry by producing advertising and media campaigns that shape public opinion about their operations. Eight of the world’s largest oil and gas companies – including Aramco, ExxonMobil, and Chevron – also amassed record profits in 2026 after the U.S invasion of Iran drove energy prices up, the report shows.
Clean Creatives also found 378 of the contracts were in countries that have experienced extreme heatwaves over the summer of 2026, including the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.
Many of the contracts are held by agencies owned by major holding companies – global parent companies that own hundreds of subsidiary agencies around the world.
New York-based Omnicom, the world’s largest advertising holding company by revenue, topped the leader board for the second year running, as the holding company with the most contracts with oil and gas companies, 118, including BP, Chevron, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Aramco, following its acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) in 2025.
Omnicom subsidiary TBWA holds 20 fossil fuel contracts, making it the agency with the most fossil fuel contracts globally this year. Its major clients include Italian oil giant Eni, ExxonMobil, and Shell.
Other major holding companies such as WPP, with 88 contracts, Publicis Groupe with 34, Dentsu, 24, and Havas with 22, have all maintained multiple contracts with major oil and gas firms through their subsidiary agencies.
The campaigns produced under these contracts includeMcCann Worldgroup’s work for Adura – the new joint venture between Shell and Equinor – and Havas Tinkle’s work with Repsol, where it created content around the popular Spanish TV show “First Dates.”
More than 1,000 contracts are held by independent agencies, which tend to do more region-specific work for their oil and gas clients. For example, We Are Futures’ work for Centrica and British Gas, which sent company volunteers, alongside Team GB and Paralympic athletes, into UK schools to lead sustainability workshops for children.
The report lands days before the European Union’s new advertising directive, which will ban certain generic environmental claims, prohibit self-certified sustainability labels, and target green claims that are based on carbon-offsetting. Called the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo), it starts on 27 September.
Fossil fuel companies have historically relied on loose regulations around misleading environmental claims to promote their renewable brands and services to the public, even while they continue to extract more oil and gas, Laura Ranzato, executive director of Clean Creatives said in a statement. “The F-List is the evidence base policymakers need to act. It’s time to set standards for businesses, governments and institutions to avoid fossil fuel client relationship conflicts of interest,” she said.
Now in its sixth year, the “F-List” continues to highlight that agencies are “nowhere close” to giving up their lucrative oil and gas clients, Nayantara Dutta, head of research at Clean Creatives said in a statement. “It is startling to see how the creative industry refuses to change, even as it acknowledges the need for climate solutions,” she said.. “All this time, creative work has continued to follow the same themes across different global markets, rather than meaningfully responding to the climate crisis.”
Despite this, Clean Creatives states that more than 1,650 agencies worldwide have signed its pledge to refuse to work with fossil fuel organisations.
DeSmog contacted Omnicom, TBWA, WPP, Publicis Groupe, Dentsu, Havas and We Are Futures for comment. At the time of publication none had responded.
