PR giant Edelman worked with Koch network, despite climate pledges

Source: The Guardian

PR giant Edelman worked with Koch network, despite climate pledges

Move by world’s largest public relations company, uncovered by tax records, alarms climate advocates

Dharna Noor
Sun 14 Jan 2024 17.00 GMT

Edelman, the world’s largest public relations company, was among the Charles Koch Foundation’s highest-paid vendors in 2022, a 990 tax disclosure form shows, alarming climate advocates.

The PR giant has made numerous climate declarations over the past decade, including making a pledge to eschew projects promoting climate denial. Partnering with a part of the Koch network, which has long worked to sow climate doubt, calls those pledges into question, said Duncan Meisel, the executive director of Clean Creatives, a non-profit pushing creative agencies to cut ties with fossil fuel polluters.

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An Edelman spokesperson said the company’s contract with the foundation ended one year ago.

But that was “well after” Edelman published climate statements that should have ruled out such a contract, said Meisel, who shared the 2022 tax document with the Guardian.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/14/edelman-charles-koch-foundation-climate