Agency groups might talk a good game when it comes to their green credentials but secretly they continue to rake in hundreds of millions of pounds from fossil fuel giants, with Omnicom and WPP agencies among the worst offenders.
That is according to the latest “F-List” report, carried out by industry campaign group Clean Creatives, which exposes 1,321 contracts between the fossil fuel industry and advertising and PR agencies – the highest number since the annual research began in 2021.
The F-List 2026 found that 386 fossil fuel firms across 73 countries engaged 802 advertising and PR agencies to shape corporate and public opinion about their products and services during 2025 and 2026, while the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell amassed staggering profits after price spikes driven by the war in Iran and subsequent energy supply shocks.
For the first time, Clean Creatives has expanded the F-List database into an interactive tool and resource, with agency profiles and comparative data, making it easier for anyone to explore the 800+ agencies and their connections to the fossil fuel industry.
To accompany, they have produced a short film that plunges viewers into a video call as a fictional agency CEO, head of communications, client services director and executive assistant react to finding out they are named in the league of shame for the first time.
According to the research, Omnicom recorded the highest number of holding-company contracts at 118, following its merger with IPG in 2025. Clean Creatives identified relationships with fossil fuel companies including BP, Chevron, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Shell and Saudi Aramco across the group’s agencies. TBWA alone was identified with 20 fossil fuel contracts.
WPP followed with 88 contracts, including work for Shell through Wunderman Thompson (now VML), as well as contracts involving BP, Equinor, ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco.
Publicis recorded 34 contracts, including multi-year relationships with Chevron, Saudi Aramco, RWE and TotalEnergies.
Dentsu had 24, with relationships including Chevron, Shell and Tokyo Gas, while Havas recorded 22 contracts.
Stagwell was identified with nine contracts, while DJE Holdings, Edelman’s parent company, had eight.
Clean Creatives said 497 of the 1,321 contracts were newly identified in the 2026 research, accounting for 38% of the total. The report also found that 325 contracts, or almost a quarter of the total, involved nine major oil companies: BP, Chevron, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Petronas, Saudi Aramco, Shell and TotalEnergies.
Clean Creatives head of research Nayantara Dutta said: “In six years of research, we have found continued evidence that agencies are nowhere close to giving up their fossil fuel contracts. It is startling to see how the creative industry refuses to change, even as it acknowledges the need for climate solutions.
“All this time, creative work has continued to follow the same themes across different global markets, rather than meaningfully responding to the climate crisis. Most of the contracts in the F-List 2026 have never been reported on before, which highlights how much has been hidden.”
When analysing creative work, Clean Creatives researchers found continued cultural trends in campaign narratives.
In South America and the Middle East, state-owned fossil fuel companies project an image of national pride and being a benevolent community partner. In the United States, Big Oil roots itself in the “American way of life” – an engine of prosperity and freedom.
Meanwhile, the EU mirrors the US’s focus on energy security, jobs and economic investment but adopts a more practical, less emotional tone. In Asia and Africa, oil companies continue to highlight brand loyalty, family values, and CSR projects.
Adjacent to the rise in contracts found in the F-List 2026 research, over 1,650 agencies worldwide have signed the Clean Creatives pledge to refuse contracts from fossil fuel organisations, along with over 4,600 creatives, dozens of brands, and a growing list of content creators and influencers, showcasing the ever-growing divide in the advertising and communications sectors relating to the ethics of marketing high-polluting industries like fossil fuels.
Clean Creatives executive director Laura Ranzato concluded: “With a Godzilla El Niño on the horizon, wildfire smoke and record heatwaves already negatively impacting marketing budgets across industries and increasing risk to advertising revenues and long-term profits, agencies face a real choice.
“They can take fossil fuel war profits and help oil majors maintain their social license a few more years, or they can get on the right side of a transition that is already winning on price, speed, and investment. The F-List is a public record of which agencies are still making the wrong call.”
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