In her book, Aronczyk demonstrates how PR practitioners themselves—in service of their fossil fuel clients—have shaped how people understand the environment as an issue of public concern. Rather than acting as neutral background players, PR firms have played an active and critical role during the past 100 years to frame polluting industries’ role as harmless, if not positive, on environmental issues. In the past 30 years, this has helped prevent the policymaking that is needed for timely climate mitigation and adaptation.
While the nature of PR aims to keep its achievements hidden from view, Aronczyk pulls its influence into the light.
As the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman has played this game exceedingly well. Last week, it released its 2024 Trust Barometer, an annual report that Edelman first released in 2002 and that it has long used as a way to manufacture trust in its clients—including fossil fuel companies and petrostates—according to documents uncovered by Clean Creatives and first reported by The Lever.
“Edelman is the creator of the Trust Barometer,” Aronczyk said, “and yet, this is clearly an agency that can’t be trusted when it comes to its climate commitments.”
Conflicts of interest abound
In 2022, when Edelman announced its updated climate strategy, the company also pledged to form an independent council of climate experts. That council, Edelman explained, would help guide the firm’s decision-making regarding its client roster and any climate-related work to avoid misinformation or greenwashing.
The nine-person council, as listed on Edelman’s website, includes climate leaders from Brazil, China, Denmark, Rwanda and the U.S., as well as a member of Shell’s board, Leena Srivastava.
“It’s so standard to see fossil fuel industry or company representatives on environmental boards of companies, and even some environmental organizations, all of it under this umbrella statement that ‘they have to be at the table, too,’” Aronczyk said.
Edelman defended Srivastava’s role on its climate council: “[Srivastava] joined our independent advisory council in 2022, and in 2023, she joined Shell’s board as an independent, non-executive director,” a spokesperson told Adweek via email. “She and Edelman’s leadership team are aligned in the belief that moving to a low-carbon economy requires collaboration and engagement with all parties critical to the transition, and her expertise and experience provide us with critical perspectives that make us better advisors to our clients.”
