The world’s biggest climate summit is unfolding this week in Belém, the steamy Amazon city at the edge of the rainforest, where delegates are stepping off planes into 35°C heat and a flood of expectations. Ten years after the Paris Agreement, the stakes feel uncomfortably high.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened COP30 by calling the world’s failure to limit heating to 1.5°C a “moral failure and deadly negligence.” The science backs him up: the World Meteorological Organisation says greenhouse gas levels are now at record highs, and 2025 is already on track to be one of the hottest years in history. Every one of the past ten years has been among the hottest ever recorded.
For Brazil, hosting this conference in the heart of the Amazon carries both symbolism and contradiction. The country wants to position itself as a climate leader even as deforestation rates and sky-high hotel prices raise eyebrows. But perhaps the more uncomfortable mirror is being held up to another industry altogether: advertising.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened COP30 by calling the world’s failure to limit heating to 1.5°C a “moral failure and deadly negligence.” The science backs him up: the World Meteorological Organisation says greenhouse gas levels are now at record highs, and 2025 is already on track to be one of the hottest years in history. Every one of the past ten years has been among the hottest ever recorded.
For Brazil, hosting this conference in the heart of the Amazon carries both symbolism and contradiction. The country wants to position itself as a climate leader even as deforestation rates and sky-high hotel prices raise eyebrows. But perhaps the more uncomfortable mirror is being held up to another industry altogether: advertising.
At last year’s COP, Guterres made a pointed plea to governments and media to ban fossil fuel advertising. This served as a clarion call for the advertising industry to reassess its role in the climate crisis.
But the advertising industry’s ties to fossil fuel companies persist. According to the 2025 F-List from climate watchdog Clean Creatives, 709 agencies worldwide still hold active or recent fossil-fuel contracts. That includes every major holding group from Dentsu, Havas, Omnicom, Publicis, Stagwell, WPP and Edelman. The Asia Pacific region alone accounts for 275 contracts, roughly a quarter of the global total, and a 26% rise on last year.
Which makes COP30’s decision to hire Edelman, long criticised for its oil and gas work, to manage media and craft the summit’s “strategic narrative” feel especially tone-deaf. It’s a move that’s reignited old questions about credibility, accountability, and who really controls the story on climate.
“Advertising as an industry remains incapable and unwilling to address the climate crisis,” says Andy Wilson, founder of sustainable-marketing consultancy Early Majority. “It will only change its tune once the budgets of more sustainable clients outweigh those of current unsustainable ones.”
A test of credibility and courage
Key issues to watch at this year's COP include new climate action pledges from agencies, accountability around greenwashing and how firms balance clients’ environmental impact and messaging. COP30’s outcomes may bring stronger industry guidelines, a shift away from fossil fuel advertising and higher expectations for transparent climate commitments.
Key issues to watch at this year's COP include new climate action pledges from agencies, accountability around greenwashing and how firms balance clients’ environmental impact and messaging. COP30’s outcomes may bring stronger industry guidelines, a shift away from fossil fuel advertising and higher expectations for transparent climate commitments.
Whether the summit triggers genuine change or merely symbolic pledges remains to be seen.
"Most observers will be expecting very low grades, and another round of self-flagellation," says Wilson. "We will have seen it all before, and therefore little will change no matter how serious, urgent or real the threats are."
COP30 is viewed as a pivotal moment for the advertising industry to show leadership on climate responsibility and transition messaging. However, insiders expect minimal shifts within the sector itself.
"We have never acknowledged our role in creating this mess and accept no accountability as an industry to rectify the situation," Wilson says. "Groups like Purpose Disruptors and Clean Creatives are doing great work highlighting issues, including the amoral actions of Edelman and others, but their impact remains peripheral and far from the levers of power, which are distracted by AI and falling shareholder prices."
Still, Wilson recognises that there has been steady progress in energy transition, electric mobility and sustainable agriculture, though much of this remains underreported and outside the mainstream agencies’ marketplace.
This year's summit marks 10 years years since the Paris Agreement. And as Brazil is host, home to the Amazon rainforest and a critical environmental frontline, COP30 is expected to ignite important global conversations about climate progress.
Yet, with respect to the advertising industry, that progress leaves ample room for improvement.
