How PR Firms Shape—and Often Obstruct—Climate Change Policies

But a new study shows that the large communications agencies they employ aren’t simply crafting responses about efforts to “go green.” Rather, many of the largest PR firms are actively working to reshape the terms of the debate set by climate scientists as consumers increasingly demand immediate action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental degradation.

New peer-reviewed research from Brown University, published this week in the scientific journal Climatic Change, demonstrates that public relations agencies’ role in climate policy makes them the marketing industry’s equivalent of think tanks.

The role of unexamined actors

Public relations firms like Edelman, Ogilvy, Glover Park Group and Cerrell have been major “unexamined” actors in shaping climate policy, according to the report by Robert Brulle, visiting professor of environment and society at Brown, and Carter Werthman.