Message From the Editor

This week, we published an investigation into the PR firm Havas, its CEO Yannick Bolloré, and his and the firm’s longtime ties to the fossil fuel industry.

Havas came into the spotlight last September, when Shell announced that it had selected the PR firm to take over its global strategic media buying in 2024. The news surprised many, given that Havas — and particularly its CEO Bolloré — had cultivated a reputation for breaking with the ad industry’s long history of greenwashing fossil fuel companies.

The internal and external backlash Havas faced was swift, and cost a subsidiary agency at least one client. But, while the Shell deal may be the biggest Havas has ever had with an oil and gas client, it is by no means the first. Nor is it the only link between the fossil fuel industry and the Bolloré family’s global business interests, which encompass multi-billion-dollar logistics operations servicing major oil companies, including Shell.

A team of DeSmog journalists dug into the details, got Havas insiders on the record, and unraveled Yannick Bolloré’s fossil fuel connections. Read more in their blockbuster investigation.

Meanwhile, DeSmog journalists Sara Sneath and Taylor Noakes were on the scene in New Orleans, when members of the local Sunrise Movement called out industry leaders for the destructive LNG export buildout in the state. Activists protested at the start of the 20th edition of the Americas Energy Summit & Exhibition, which aims to bring together policymakers and liquified natural gas, natural gas, and hydrogen players to explore new avenues for fossil fuel expansion.

“We’re out here today in resistance and opposition, to let them know that they’re not welcome here in New Orleans, in the state that they’re destroying,” said Sage Franz, a member of the local Sunrise Movement group. “They’re destroying our coastline. They’re here to scheme on how to keep doing that, and we’re here to tell them you’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

Learn more about their fight in the new article here.

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Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

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Image credit: Sabrina Bedford

Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré Staked His Brand on Caring About the Climate. So Why Is His Company Working for Shell?

— By Geoff Dembicki, Dana Drugmand, Emily Gertz, Ali Lyon and Isobel Moseley (15 min. read) —

In a June 2023 video interview, Yannick Bolloré looks relaxed. The rolled-back cuffs of his rumpled blue button-down reveal an array of mismatched wristbands. His collar is open just enough to glimpse a gold pendant gleaming in the early summer sunshine.

Bolloré, the chair and CEO of the Havas Group, is on the French Riviera to attend the annual Cannes Lions festival, “a week of world-class networking, learning, and history-making creativity” that draws thousands of PR and marketing professionals from around the world.

‘They’re Destroying Our Coastline’: Activists at the Americas Energy Summit Protest Fossil Fuel Expansion

— By Sara Sneath and Taylor Noakes (5 min. read) —

On a frigid but sunny Tuesday afternoon outside New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, a small but dedicated group of environmental activists affiliated with Sunrise Movement New Orleans protested the start of the 20th edition of the Americas Energy Summit & Exhibition. 

The conference was originally scheduled for the end of October of 2023. But it was canceled without explanation by conference organizers several weeks before it was due to begin. The event aims to bring together policymakers and liquified natural gas (LNG), natural gas, and hydrogen players to explore new avenues for fossil fuel expansion.

Leading Climate Science Denial Group Registers Lowest Income for Seven Years

— By Sam Bright (5 min. read) —

The UK’s most prominent climate science denial group has seen its income drop to the lowest level since 2016, DeSmog can reveal. 

The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) filed its latest accounts on 18 January, showing an income of £280,000 for the year ending 30 September 2023, a drop of £110,000 from the previous year. Total annual losses increased from £17,000 to over £150,000.

In D.C. Defamation Trial, Climatologist Michael Mann Confronts the Climate Deniers Who Maligned His Work

— Diane Bernard (5 min. read) —

Twelve years after he sued two climate deniers for defamation, climate scientist Michael Mann took the stand during the second week of the trial against them in Washington, D.C.

Mann’s testimony painted a picture of a respected and accomplished scientist and academic who has been deeply hurt, personally and professionally, by accusations of scientific deception.

Havas London Targeted by Climate Activists Over Agency’s Relationship with Shell

— By Ellen Ormesher (2 min. read) —

For the second time in four months, climate activists have gathered at the headquarters of Havas London to protest the ad agency’s relationship with Shell.

According to the group, Extinction Rebellion or XR, Thursday’s protest was spurred by a whistleblower’s tip-off that Havas would be meeting with Shell to discuss new work for the fossil fuel giant.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Havas

Havas is a French holding group with public relations and advertising agencies around the world. Known as Euro RSCG until 2012, Havas is one of the largest public relations and advertising groups in the world and won Shell’s media account in September 2023. As of 2023, Havas also worked with fossil fuel clients including Imperial Oil and Gas, BP, Q8, Shell, and Technip. It previously worked with ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines. In 2020, Havas launched Havas Impact+, a corporate social responsibility program that aimed to reduce Havas’ direct emissions by more than 55 percent by 2030. But in 2023, 2022, and 2021, the campaign group Clean Creatives put Havas on its “F-List” of creative agencies working with fossil fuel companies.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.