{"id":404317,"date":"2025-09-23T10:57:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=404317"},"modified":"2025-09-23T10:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:57:42","slug":"big-advertising-joins-banks-and-asset-managers-in-ditching-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=404317","title":{"rendered":"Big Advertising Joins Banks and Asset Managers in Ditching Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 sustainability staff have either been made redundant or left and not been replaced \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Advertising giants change tune on climate as industry grapples with AI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing and PR groups are latest to follow shifts in politics led by US<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenza Bryan<\/a> in London<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s largest advertising agencies have rolled back their rhetoric on climate change, as the industry grapples with being replaced by AI and the need to hold on to lucrative contracts with even the most polluting clients.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

It is the latest sector to follow the banks and asset managers and an array of US companies in re-embracing fossil fuel clients, echoing the political shift following the election of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy majors and their creative partners are more transparently embracing fossil fuels, in a \u201cbad boyfriend strategy\u201d, said Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives. \u201cMarketing spend is shifting towards making them seem inevitable and vital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Omnicom staff member said an internal working group on sustainability had recently fallen silent. \u201cAdvertising is struggling \u2014 so all business is being considered,\u201d he said. 

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omnicom is in the process of acquiring IPG. A current IPG employee said some \u201csustainability staff have either been made redundant or left and not been replaced\u201d. 

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/df2057e0-9c55-47d5-a0d3-4c68ac122dce<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Low energy visions of sustainability are finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only has the election of President Trump broken the myth of green historical inevitability, the AI revolution is driving an enormous uptick in fossil fuel investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IEA modelling suggests data center demand for electricity will double to 945 TWh by 2030<\/a>, around twice the current energy consumption of Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where a sizeable chunk of the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being poured into AI data center construction is ending up in the pockets of fossil fuel companies, the need for those same fossil fuel companies to double down on boosting their publish image is a market opportunity no advertising firm can afford to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Update (EW): Added the quote about sustainability jobs not being replaced.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026 sustainability staff have either been made redundant or left and not been replaced \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":404320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691823433,691836848,691818056,691838242,691838243,691833487],"class_list":{"0":"post-404317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ai-artificial-intelligence-2","9":"tag-ai-revolution","10":"tag-climate-change","11":"tag-fossil-fuel-clients","12":"tag-green-myth","13":"tag-us-president-donald-j-trump","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AQMaFxRVj9PQTSqDLSm-ObDnXtAzc0aUWa7iHV51fFwdYQF8jBzcTLOVIA0SrsLO9RGCrIoUYONKF7AK0IG05lmv7ReGEKpZsFukCdVMURjoFB-n-wyJoITKaFHEMit1kz00unOSxluHzYdDj9pD_otIFEcyUQ-1.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Hbf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":287139,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287139","url_meta":{"origin":404317,"position":0},"title":"\u00a315 Million AI Climate Change Grant for the University of Southampton","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Southampton will be at the forefront of government plans to make the UK a leading force for artificial intelligence after it was awarded millions of pounds.The University of Southampton has been given \u00a315m for a training centre aimed at developing artificial intelligence to tackle climate change. 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