A Large PR Firm Pledged to Fight Climate Change. Then It Took Millions from a Notorious Fossil Fuel Trade Group.

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March 15, 2021

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by Zahra Hirji and Kendall Taggart (BuzzFeed News) Edelman, a PR firm that’s pledged to “work with an environmental conscience,” was paid $4 million to promote one of the most extreme fossil fuel trade groups in the country, new tax filings show. — Edelman, one of the largest public relations firms in the world, has pledged never to work with climate deniers and proudly touts its work on environmental justice campaigns with brands like Tazo Tea.

But newly released tax filings obtained by BuzzFeed News show that in 2019 the company accepted more than $4 million from the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a major US oil trade organization that even Shell and BP had recently dumped for its aggressive opposition to popular climate solutions.

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AFPM has paid Edelman at least $12 million for public relations work from 2017 to 2019, tax filings show.

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AFPM has taken some of the most extreme positions among fossil fuel trade groups, including helping create Energy4Us, a group that ran Facebook ads supporting the Trump administration’s rollbacks of national fuel efficiency standards without initially disclosing its ties to the oil and gas industry. The trade group also helped fund a campaign opposing a carbon tax in Washington state.

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The fossil fuel industry is a huge potential source of revenue for public relations firms. Research by the Brown sociologist Brulle found that five big oil companies combined have “spent nearly $3.6 billion in advertising purposes for corporation promotion” from 1986 to 2015. READ MORE

ME FIRST — CONSERVATIVES OPPOSE CARBON TAX: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy: ME FIRST — CONSERVATIVES OPPOSE CARBON TAX: A coalition of conservative and free-market groups are banding together today to oppose a carbon tax in any form. In a short letter to lawmakers, the groups argue a carbon tax would increase “the power, cost and intrusiveness of the government in our lives.” It comes as carbon tax chatter has revived under the Biden administration. Signers include Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Matt Schlapp, chair of American Conservative Union; and Tom Pyle, president of American Energy Alliance.

Meanwhile: Americans for Carbon Dividends launched a new ad today targeting congressional offices and the climate policy community to adopt carbon dividends as a bipartisan climate solution. READ MORE

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