From the Fire Hose - "Building Back" Next Steps and Fossil Fuelers' Favorite Ad Agency Pushes "Climate Emergency"
A hurdle passed for Build Back Better and Edelman reviews its clients with climate in mind
Congress and Climate
What happened - After months of sparring between progressive, moderate and conservative Democrats, the House on Friday narrowly passed the ~$2-trillion Build Back Better bill, encompassing a vast array of social and climate investments (and some controversial sweeteners).
Here are the core climate provisions, as summarized succinctly by Reuters:
- Rebates and credits to cut the cost of rooftop solar systems by 30 percent and American-made, union-made electric vehicles by $12,500
- Incentives to encourage U.S. manufacturing of clean energy technology and shift other industries to reduce carbon emissions
- Creates a 300,000-strong Civilian Climate Corps to work on environmental and climate projects
- Creates a Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator to invest in climate-related projects, with at least 40 percent serving disadvantaged communities
- New spending on coastal restoration, forest management and soil conservation
What to watch for - More machinations and, yes, Manchinations are inevitable in the Senate before you'll see that divided body pass some version of the reconciliation bill and then it'll be back to the House for another scrub. But this really is a momentous juncture in recent U.S. history.
The $1.2-trillion infrastructure deal that President Joe Biden signed on Monday will soon begin to make up for decades of underinvestment in basic systems and structures underpinning America's economy and societal functions. As I recently wrote, for the sake of resilience, in many situations it'll be as important to "unbuild back better." But this is an epic start. It's hard to imagine some form of the reconciliation bill not becoming law.
Jesse Jenkins, a brilliant Princeton analyst of technical and policy pathways that can take the carbon out of energy systems, spoke for many with a tweet this afternoon:
"It's hard to celebrate until the bill becomes law, but we should pause and recognize how historic and important House passage of Build Back Better is today. Eyes on the prize, but take a moment to acknowledge the wins. And to thank everyone in the House that made this possible."
What to work for - So far, Biden has been able to navigate the crosscurrents within his own party around climate and social programs and is poised to leave a remarkable legacy. He and those in Congress who've crafted compromises so far have demonstrated Washington is not beyond repair. Whether this all translates into sustained congressional power for the Democrats after 2022 and a Democrat still in the White House after 2024 is deeply uncertain, of course.
But I see signs of what I hoped for in a January essay - on letting Biden be Biden. This tweeted phrase is shorthand: "Climate is a #next4280days issue, not a #first100days issue."
Fossil Fuel Ad Man Pledges a Client Review
What happened - Richard W. Edelman, the chief executive of the world's biggest public relations firm, gave an all-hands speech to Edelman's 6,000-plus employees on Monday signaling a commitment to making climate action a priority - quite a turn for a company that has profited for decades by building ad campaigns for ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel giants seemingly dead-set on climate inaction.
If you haven't listened to Amy Westervelt's Drilled episode on the company's founder and early days, please do so. The summary: "Daniel Edelman learned the tools of his trade combatting Nazi propaganda in WWII, then came home and put his psychological warfare training to work for American industry, including tobacco and Big Oil." It's a fascinating saga.
Environmental groups, journalists and climate scholars have for years been revealing the hundreds of millions of oil and gas dollars flowing into campaigns sowing climate doubt or overconfidence, and pressing Edelman directly (see the Clean Creatives/Slow Factory #edelemandropexxon letter and campaign).
But Edelman said his motivation came from the COP26 climate talks, recent weather extremes and internal pressure from employees. He even used the phrase "climate emergency" (I'll have more on that term in a future post):
"Calls to action from you have caused me to think about how we must do more. We are the largest firm in our industry. Over the past 18 months, we’ve worked together to help one another and our clients in addressing multiple crises — Covid-19, systemic racism, threats to democracy itself. We have a responsibility to do the same in addressing the climate emergency. We are building who we want to be in the future; the change agents, the partners for businesses that will make the change...."
What to watch for - Edelman laid out a series of detailed, and welcome, steps, including a 60-day review of Edelman's client list.
In an interview with Ben German of Axios, Edelman echoed a point he made in his employee speech, saying, "We work with oil majors. I'm proud of our work. I think that bigger question over time is, how we can help them express their transitions."
According to German, Edelman said that if clients are not committed to the new principles they announced, "then I think we'll withdraw from those relationships."
I'm marking my calendar.
What to work for - I'm eager for our Columbia Climate School communication initiative to follow up with Edelman's new climate-focused teams, particularly on this point from Edelman's announcement:
We will join with our industry peers to formalize clear criteria for climate communications — truth and facts that enable good decisions. We will ensure sustainability claims can be easily substantiated to ensure consumers can trust marketing messages. We will work with regulatory bodies and industry leaders including the World Federation of Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies. We will also roll out a curriculum developed in conjunction with universities that establishes best practices in global climate communications — for our teams, our clients and the entire industry.
I checked in with Amy Westervelt for reaction. She said she's eager to see what emerges in 60 days, as well, but added:
"Honestly I think it’s bullshit. They work, and have worked, with *every* segment of the fossil fuel industry — utilities, oil companies, trade groups. They’ve been architects of denial and delay. It’s not just about working for Exxon, or ridding their roster of a couple bad actors."
I sent a query to Edelman's media relations folks a couple of days ago. I'll check in again and will report back. I hold out hope for change, although the layers of oil-funded communication are mind-numbingly deep.
This morning in my Twitter feed, there was a tweet of an Axios short course on climate solutions - in this case carbon-capture technology (a big focus of Big Oil ad campaigns).
The tweet was promoted by ExxonMobil.
Sift around in the Axios course pages and there's this line: "Axios thanks our partners for supporting our short courses. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content."
We all have work to do.
Reading
Explore the gallery of deceptive fossil ads by a variety of companies and advertising agencies compiled by Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes and published in The Guardian.
Several of my relevant posts:
Big Oil in the Hot Seat - and Everyone Wins? - After decades of practice, the oil and gas industry continues to flood media with green spin, but hearings aiming to stop this propaganda fuel both factions in the climate fight.
The Washington Post Crossed a Line with Climate Stories Featuring Excerpt-Style Exxon "Ads" - Too often, the line between editorial content and Exxon advertising is being crossed in a paper that won a Pulitzer for its climate coverage.
The New York Times Company Should Stop Creating Fossil Fuel Ads - As a former climate-focused writer at the paper, I think it's time for the Times Company to stop making ads for fossil fuel giants, but not yet for a total ban.
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Parting shot
We're all busy as ever, including the beavers here in the Hudson Highlands.
