WPP: FAQs
Why has the world’s largest ad firm, WPP, been reported to an international corporate watchdog for breaking rules on climate change and human rights?
The New Weather Institute and Adfree Cities have submitted a complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) against the world’s largest advertising and PR firm, WPP.
This is the first time an advertising company has been challenged over the climate and human rights impacts of its work for major polluter clients. Here are more details of our complaint.
Why have we reported WPP to the OECD?
Think tank the New Weather Institute and Adfree Cities have submitted an OECD complaint against the world's largest advertising and PR company, WPP, for contributing to adverse human rights and environmental impacts through its advertising work. We’re asking WPP to stop promoting polluters.
The first-of-its-kind complaint alleges that WPP has breached the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. These are government-backed recommendations to multinational enterprises on how to do business sustainably and responsibly.
A major basis for the complaint is that WPP’s work for clients in high-emitting sectors - including fossil fuels, carmakers, airlines, fossil fuel financiers and plastics - directly increases demand for carbon-intensive products and undermines global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
WPP, which is headquartered in London, holds lengthy relationships with clients with extremely high greenhouse gas emissions including Shell, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, American Petroleum Institute, British Airways, United Airlines, Ford and Toyota; as well as banks that finance fossil fuels, including HSBC and Deutsche Bank.
Many of WPP’s energy clients are actively still expanding their fossil fuel operations. In 2024, WPP had at least 79 active fossil fuel contracts, more than any other advertising company in the world.
WPP also works for three of the world’s four worst plastic polluters: CocaCola, Danone, Nestlé, who together are responsible for 17% of branded plastic pollution globally. Experts warn that plastics pose a ‘critical human health crisis’.
Many of WPP’s clients have recently watered down their commitments to reduce carbon emissions and plastic use, including Shell, BP, Unilever and CocaCola. Others, like HSBC, have repeatedly broken their environmental promises and lobbied against stronger climate action. While advertisers often say their work is helping clients to be more sustainable, this is flawed, and failing.
In one example, WPP’s agency Ogilvy has worked with British oil company BP for more than two decades, helping to curate an image of environmental responsibility through a full rebrand to ‘Beyond Petroleum’, reputation management, advertising campaigns and sponsorships. In 2020, a leaked briefing from BP to WPP agencies stated BP’s strategy to “invest in more oil and gas” before asking the agencies to position the oil major as a leader in the clean energy transition. In 2024, BP abandoned its previously declared climate targets and announced that it was expanding its oil and gas output.
What are the alleged Guideline breaches?
The 70-page complaint outlines four alleged breaches of the Guidelines by WPP plc, by, in summary:
failing to disclose its “advertised emissions ,” in line with its voluntary commitments and the environmental (or “green”) claims WPP makes in its corporate documentation and public facing materials;
failing to carry out appropriate stakeholder engagement and due diligence assessments geared towards identifying adverse impacts which WPP contributes to via the business relationships in its value chain;
failing to prevent, mitigate or remediate adverse human rights, climate and environmental impacts which WPP contributes to via the business relationships in its value chain;
including statements and allegations within its corporate sustainability reporting which are not accurate, and are consequently misleading, including, particularly, statements that WPP does not take on any client work (including lobbying) designed to frustrate the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Who has filed the OECD complaint against WPP?
The complaint has been submitted by the New Weather Institute and Adfree Cities, represented by barristers at Doughty Street Chambers.
Badvertising is a project of the New Weather Institute, a co-operative think-tank, created to accelerate our rapid transition to a fairer economy capable of thriving within planetary boundaries. Adfree Cities is a Bristol (UK) based campaign and Community Interest Company (CIC) working to prevent the harms of corporate advertising on the environment and human health.
What is WPP?
WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, UK. WPP is the world's largest advertising company, with 114,000 people employed in over 100 countries across the globe.
WPP’s “purpose” is to “use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities”. WPP’s “offer” is to “provide marketing communications services that help brands grow and transform their businesses.” According to WPP, “our policy is not to take on any client work, including lobbying, designed to frustrate the objectives of the Paris Agreement.” This is strongly challenged in the complaint.
How does an OECD complaint work?
An OECD complaint is a way for individuals and civil society to seek accountability or remedy for a company’s harms to communities or the environment.
The OECD has Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines). The Guidelines are government backed recommendations to multinational enterprises on how to do business sustainably and responsibly.
All governments that follow the OECD Guidelines must establish a complaints body, called a National Contact Point (NCP), to help resolve disputes between communities or workers and companies they believe are not following the Guidelines’ standards.
The complaints process includes five stages, including an initial assessment of the complaint to determine whether it can be accepted, and mediation (or ‘good offices’) between the complainants and the company, to reach a mutually agreeable, Guidelines-compatible agreement.
After this process, the NCP publishes a public statement about the complaint and mediation process (including any agreement reached). These final statements may include recommendations for the company on meeting the Guidelines’ standards, as well as the NCP’s determination on whether the company breached the Guidelines.
More information on the OECD complaints process can be found on the OECD Watch website.
Why have we focused on WPP’s advertising work for fossil fuel companies, plastics, aviation, automakers and fossil finance?
We are alleging that WPP’s work for clients in high-emitting sectors - including fossil fuels, carmakers, and plastics - directly facilitates increased demand for carbon-intensive products and undermines global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In our complaint we have focused on five key sectors: fossil fuels, plastics, aviation, carmakers and fossil finance. These are particularly high-emitting sectors which are failing to decarbonise at the pace required to meet global climate targets.
However, advertising plays a significant role in shaping consumer behaviour and perpetuating harmful social and environmental practices more broadly than these areas. We are also concerned that advertising practices for sectors such as tech, fast fashion and meat and dairy are reinforcing harmful social norms and locking in harmful consumer practices, such as eating more meat than is healthy or sustainable. We have discussed these in our briefing, Emerging Issues in High Carbon Advertising.
Is this a greenwashing complaint?
The complaint sets out examples of misleading advertising campaigns developed by WPP agencies, including for Shell, and HSBC. We say that these underscore WPP’s failure to align its practices with the principles of transparency, accuracy, and responsibility enshrined in the OECD Guidelines, and provide a clear basis for WPP to stop working for clients like Shell - whose sustainability discourse has been repeatedly found not to match its actual environmental investments and action.
However, this complaint does not focus solely on greenwash. While ending fossil fuel misinformation is crucial to the fight against climate change, we believe we should end high carbon advertising altogether, with the co-benefit of stopping greenwash at source.
Contact us
If you have questions about the complaint, or would like to know more about getting involved in ending advertising that fuels the climate emergency, please do get in touch. You can also sign up to our newsletter here.
