Campaign group Clean Creatives has released the first-ever analysis of the estimated global marketing spend of oil and gas majors, their total impact on the marketing industry, and the financial pathways for a speedy, managed exit of fossil fuel client relationships.
The whitepaper ‘Profitable Growth Without Fossil Fuels: Strategic Opportunities for a Fossil Fuel Free Future for the Marketing Industry’ represents the first numbers-backed case for the advertising, creative and PR industry to exit fossil fuel client relationships, and identifies the opportunities waiting in emerging high-growth industries such as healthcare, renewables and the circular economy – including the secondhand, rental, and refurbished goods sectors – to make the business case for transition.
Additionally, the whitepaper, launched in a presentation at midday today in Kings Cross, London, for London Climate Action Week 2025, highlights the once-in-a-generation first-mover revenue and reputation-building advantage to the first holding company to announce its offramp strategy.
Key findings when calculating the existing scale of fossil fuel spend on marketing include:
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The top 29 fossil fuel majors spent an estimated $7 billion on media, creative advertising and PR annually.
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The top 29 fossil fuel majors’ spending represents 0.7% of global marketing spend.
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PR spend from oil majors averaged $2.7bn annually across 2021, 2022 and 2023.
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Media spend from fossil fuel majors averaged $2.09bn annually across 2021, 2022 and 2023.
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Creative advertising spend from fossil fuel majors averaged $630m annually across 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Key findings when analysing the potential to off-ramp:
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By 2050, healthcare costs projected to arise from the climate crisis will be $1.1 trillion, annualised to $55 billion per year between now and then.
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In 2024, global investment in clean energy was over $2 trillion, more than twice spent on fossil fuels.
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In 2026, the circular economy is expected to reach a $712 billion market opportunity. By 2030, this will rise to $4.5 trillion globally.
The whitepaper’s analysis provides a snapshot of a declining fossil fuel industry in the advertising and creative industries and explores how a warming planet has far-reaching negative impacts on other industries, such as agriculture, tourism, and insurance.
“For years, the marketing industry has avoided conversations about the actual steps needed to exit fossil fuel contracts. Discussions about revenue are easy to shy away from, and so we want to equip the companies who are entangled with oil and gas with the tools they need to approach offramping those clients.
The reality is that fossil fuel companies are not a growth industry. Clean energy makes up the vast majority of new energy development worldwide, and it’s important to prepare now to embrace industries that will grow as fossil fuels decline”. Duncan Meisel, Executive Director, Clean Creatives
The full report is available at cleancreatives.org/offramp.