Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · United States · 2005–2026

Edelman: API contract, Energy Citizens and the COP30 contract

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 4 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

The public relations firm Edelman worked for the American Petroleum Institute from 2005 to 2016 and later won the communications contract for the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. The record shows it holding fossil-fuel and climate-related work at the same time.

5.64% estimateEdelman's reported revenue share from fossil-fuel contracts
Estimate by Clean Creatives, 2025 edition.

Status As of September 2026: Clean Creatives' latest report recorded more than 1,300 agency contracts with fossil-fuel clients; no response from Edelman on COP30 found.

What?
A public relations firm held an oil lobby contract for 11 years and later won a climate summit's communications contract while serving fossil-fuel clients. DeSmog
Where?
United States, Canada and Brazil. DeSmog
When?
2005 to 2026. DeSmog
Who?
Gained
  • Edelman — Fees from API (more than 10% of revenue in 2010) and a US$835,000 COP30 contract. DeSmog
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Contracts for communications work and the establishment of Energy Citizens (2009), according to the record. DeSmog
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

From 2005 to 2016 Edelman worked for the American Petroleum Institute (API), the US oil industry lobby. According to DeSmog, the contract made up more than 10% of the firm's revenue in 2010. In 2009 Edelman helped build "Energy Citizens", a structure set up against climate legislation.

In 2014 Edelman's plan for the TransCanada pipeline was leaked, and Edelman and TransCanada parted ways, according to DeSmog.

In June 2024 Edelman won a Titanium Lion at the Cannes Lions festival for a campaign for the port operator DP World. DP World is also recorded as a founding funder of the Earthshot Prize.

In 2025 Edelman received a US$835,000 contract for Brazil's COP30 summit. The record states that in the same period it also worked for Shell, Petrobras and Chevron, and that its oil and gas adviser arranged meetings with the summit secretariat on behalf of the fuel distributor Vibra Energia.

Clean Creatives, a campaign against agency work for fossil-fuel clients, counted 1,217 contracts between 709 agencies and fossil-fuel clients in 74 countries in its 2025 report and estimated that 5.64% of Edelman's revenue came from them. Its September 2026 edition recorded more than 1,300 contracts and 802 agencies.

  1. 2005Edelman begins work for the American Petroleum Institute (to 2016)
  2. 2009Edelman helps build "Energy Citizens"
  3. 2010API contract is more than 10% of Edelman's revenue, according to DeSmog
  4. 2014Edelman's TransCanada plan leaked; Edelman and TransCanada part ways
  5. 2024Edelman wins a Titanium Lion at Cannes for a DP World campaign (June)
  6. 2025Edelman receives a US$835,000 COP30 contract; Clean Creatives 2025 report estimates 5.64% of its revenue is fossil-fuel work
  7. 2026Clean Creatives September edition: more than 1,300 contracts, 802 agencies

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Edelman presented as the winner of a Titanium Lion at Cannes in June 2024.
    Edelman · Edelman

Recorded

  • API contract from 2005 to 2016; more than 10% of Edelman's revenue in 2010.
    DeSmog
  • Edelman helped build Energy Citizens in 2009.
    DeSmog
  • COP30 contract worth US$835,000 in 2025; Edelman's oil and gas adviser arranged meetings for Vibra Energia with the summit secretariat in the same period.
  • Clean Creatives estimate: 5.64% of Edelman's revenue from fossil-fuel contracts (2025).
    DeSmog (citing Clean Creatives F-List)

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
COP30 communications contract (2025)$0.83m
Currency: USD · Window: 2005–2025. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Edelman revenue from fossil-fuel contracts
5.64%
Clean Creatives estimate, 2025
API contract share of revenue, 2010
More than 10%
According to DeSmog

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluationKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Court

Record

  • None on record Edelman's own response to the reporting on the COP30 contract and the Vibra meetings is not on record in the sources reviewed.
  • Disputed The sources reviewed give conflicting counts of 2025 contracts for the two largest holding groups: one passage lists Omnicom 118 and WPP 88, another Omnicom 120 and WPP 82.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the TransCanada plan proposed wearing down opponents by distraction and creating fake grassroots groups, and that Edelman said in 2015 it would not work with climate deniers.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: claimed savings of 17.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from the DP World "Move to -15" campaign; the page carrying the figures could not be opened.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Edelman is a family firm and the world's largest independent public relations firm.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a link between the Cannes award and a Shell account; the source was a weak event page.

Did the harm stop?

The sources reviewed record no harm to nature attributable to this matter and no end date for the activities described.

Who paid?

Not stated in the sources reviewed.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Company or project

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.

Insurance

Underwriter
An insurer, or a person at an insurer, who assesses a risk and decides whether and on what terms to insure it.
Similar cases
Carbon credits · Tree planting · Brazil · 2022
Biomas restoration initiative
Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Carbon credits · Canada · 2019–2026
IMF whale-value paper and Baffinland narwhal pilot
Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Carbon credits · Canada · 2025–2030
Gigablue and Planetary Technologies ocean carbon credits
Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Carbon credits · Tree planting · Brazil · 2024
Microsoft forestry carbon deals and the Apple Restore Fund
Same type: Carbon creditsSame countryHarm to nature not measured