Is it the right move for PR agencies to completely cut ties with fossil fuel clients – even if they’re helping drive sustainability comms? It’s a debate that often arises around the Clean Creatives movement – an organisation that advocates for PR and Advertising agencies to pledge against profiting from fossil fuels.
As part of Latte’s 2026 Nice List, we asked PR agency leaders to weigh in on the idea that walking away from fossil fuel clients means walking away from influence. Here’s what they had to say:
“Our industry was saying this twenty years ago… and, we’re still saying it now. In that time, nothing has really changed. It’s such a naive statement – it’s just not how things actually work. Agencies willing to aid and abet fossil fuel companies to distract from their destruction with a palatable mask are as guilty as their clients. It’s estimated, due to climate damages caused by major oil company emissions, annual loss and damage by 2030 will cost $300billion. Meanwhile in 2024, profits for the five oil majors – those companies causing the climate crisis – earned them more than $102billion. Imagine if the PR industry threw its collective weight behind calls for the creation of a global climate damages fund to make polluters pay, instead of accepting yet another dirty fee to become polluters by proxy.”
Nyree Ambarchain – Co-Founder Jack & Grace
“What is this mythical table? If it does exist, there may be small wins to be had but, when push comes to shove, the client’s short term, fossil fuel agenda will always reign supreme. I think this is a coward’s way out to be honest. It’s a way for agencies to justify taking money from big oil and it would be much more powerful to collectively withdraw the oxygen of creativity and publicity and to let them fend for themselves.”
Adam Mack – Strategy & Insight Director, Hope&Glory PR
“I fundamentally disagree with the idea that continuing to work with fossil fuel clients is the only way to influence change. These companies are ultimately driven by profit, and if PR agencies collectively chose to walk away, it would create real commercial pressure – far more than any messaging we could craft from the inside.
Someone has to be willing to break the cycle. Our industry holds enormous power through the budgets we manage and the stories we shape. That influence should be used to accelerate positive change, not to protect the reputations of companies actively contributing to the climate crisis. Walking away isn’t losing a seat at the table—it’s redefining the table altogether.”
Ella McWilliam – Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Full Fat
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Interested in finding PR agencies with zero fossil fuel clients? Download our 2026 Nice List – the UK’s only directory of planet-friendly PR agencies, created in partnership with Clean Creatives.
🌎 Click here to download our 2026 UK Nice List
🌎 Click here to download our 2026 Australian Nice List
