The New York Times reports:

After last month’s United Nations-sponsored environmental conference in Glasgow, the public relations giant Edelman praised the participants for reaching “a new level of international consensus that climate change is an existential threat to humanity.”

In a statement posted on its website, Edelman also called for “more scrutiny on corporate climate lobbying efforts” and argued that many of the pledges that resulted from the conference “fall far short of what is necessary to avert global climate disaster.”

Coming from a company that has worked with Exxon Mobil, Shell and trade groups that lobby for the fossil fuel industry, the pro-environment stance rang hollow to some people inside and outside the company.

Some of the criticism leveled at Edelman came in the form of a petition from Clean Creatives, an initiative led by the environmental activist Jamie Henn that takes aim at public relations companies and advertising agencies that work with oil and gas corporations. The petition was circulated at the time of the conference, known as COP26, and was signed by more than 100 people, including activists, academics, authors, actors, diplomats and filmmakers. [Continue reading…]