Agencies unite to take action on climate

PR and comms agencies Kibbo Kift Agency, Fanclub PR and Enviral, along with creative consultancies Leap Agency, Media Bounty and Revolt are the first to join the climate action group.

Creatives for Climate is an international network of 20,000 creative professionals, ranging from designers to copywriters, and ethical agencies across 40 countries, dedicated to climate justice.

The Ethical Agency Alliance aims to “share ideas” and knowledge on collective challenges faced by PR and creative agencies on climate and social justice.

The group will also launch ideas to “create new standards across the industry” and use “creativity to accelerate climate solutions and social justice”.

Creatives for Climate said it founded the alliance after months of interviews with founders on the challenges they face in establishing ethical agency models, such as functioning in silos, facing time challenges to network and competing against agencies whose values are questionable.To join the Ethical Agency Alliance, agencies must commit three out of every 10 employees to a three-step plan and commit to five core community principles that form the ideology of the movement.

The three-step plan focuses on collaboration across sectors, upskilling in climate communications and divestment from representing fossil fuel clients.

As part of the launch, the agencies will hosts the alliance’s first open, free webinar, set to take place on 4 October, to share communications tactics used to campaign for change.

Beginning in Europe, the Ethical Agency Alliance will launch and expand across Asia-Pacific, led by newly appointed New Zealand chapter lead Antonia Estall.

Lucy von Sturmer, Creatives for Climate initiator, said: “It’s no secret that running an agency is hard work, and running an ethical agency is even harder. Saying no to promoting harmful clients comes with a cost, and we want to support the agencies raising the bar so that we can inspire and provoke the whole industry to do the same.”

Sam Narr, chief executive and founder of Kibbo Kift Agency added: “From awards shows to lacklustre accreditation to greenwashing, hypocrisy in the industry is rife. It’s often infuriating and lonely as a small agency to be self-governed by your own ethics and morals in a sector that’s so influential yet lags so considerably on progress for climate and social justice.

“I’m incredibly grateful to be part of a like-minded network of agencies guided by a fully transparent framework to achieve action and create change.”

Adrian Ma, managing director of Fanclub PR said: “The world’s leading climate scientists at the IPCC have named PR and advertisers as standing in the way of solutions to climate change.