The procurement toolkit

The climate crisis is no longer an event on the horizon. It’s here.

The summer of 2026 will be remembered as one of the hottest on record and a precursor to an El Niño weather event that is projected to cause global supply chain shocks, devastating weather patterns, and could “push 50 million people into acute hunger.” Despite headlines about extreme heat, most news stories made no mention of climate change, the 57 fossil fuel polluters responsible for 80% of global carbon emissions since 2016, or the industries that enable their operations – such as the communications industry. This is Big Oil’s marketing machine at work. 

The fossil fuel industry has known for decades about climate change. Rather than investing in solutions, they have spent billions in advertising and PR on a coordinated disinformation campaign through a creative cover up.

This is happening as governments step back from climate commitments. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on PR and advertising agencies to stop working for fossil fuel companies, describing them as enabling the “mad men” helping “the fossil fuel industry to lie.” Illustrated by last year’s COP30 failed to reach consensus on a formal roadmap to phase-out fossil fuels. Click here to read our explainer on how PR and advertising agencies working for fossil fuel polluters contribute to the climate crisis.

PR and creative agencies are hoping you won’t check who they’re working with.

As the clients and customers of these agencies, you have a unique opportunity to take meaningful action to tackle the creative cover-up, follow the money and use our own purchasing power to employ agencies who don’t harm our world, its environment and people. The agencies you hire to tell your brand’s story matter. This toolkit helps you act on that.

Procurement is one of the most concrete levers corporations have for translating sustainability commitments into operational practice.

Many teams have embedded sustainability criteria into physical supply chains. But those same standards have yet to be consistently applied to marketing, advertising, and communications services.

The F-List Procurement Toolkit is here to change that. This toolkit will help teams in charge of procuring creative and PR agencies ensure they’re not indirectly supporting fossil fuel companies and exacerbating the climate crisis.

As clients, employees, customers and human beings, we have the power to force change. We encourage everyone to recognise the power they already have in making a stand against the distorting influence of fossil fuels by committing to cut ties with PR and creative agencies who take fossil fuel money. Most agencies make less than 1% of their revenue from fossil fuel contracts. Cutting ties with fossil fuels is within reach.

Pledging not to work with fossil fuel polluters and the agencies who do their dirty work is the best way to make a difference.

However, it can be daunting to scrutinise your supply chain and get answers to your tough questions. This toolkit will help you identify whether or not your agency partners have fossil fuel conflicts of interest, engage them on the issue, and take practical steps to embed ethical PR procurement in your organization or business. 

We encourage everyone to recognise the power they already have in making a stand against the distorting influence of fossil fuels by committing to cut ties with PR and creative agencies who take fossil fuel money.

This toolkit is suitable for anyone responsible for sourcing, selecting, or managing creative, advertising, or PR agency relationships, including CMOs, procurement teams, sustainability leads and brand managers.

It is particularly relevant for organizations with existing climate commitments, ESG goals, or public sector teams with obligations around ethical procurement.

The F-List is Clean Creatives’ annual database of advertising and PR agencies with documented relationships with fossil fuel companies. 

Agencies and holding companies often hide their dirty work from their other clients through highly misleading campaigns.

Many procurement teams are unaware that the creative or PR agencies that they’ve sourced to support their work are simultaneously undermining efforts to tackle the climate crisis and profiting off of it.

The F-List makes those relationships visible, searchable, and harder to ignore.

Clean Creatives is a movement of advertisers, PR professionals and brands committed to ending the creative industry’s relationship with fossil fuels.

For a full breakdown of the report, see the 2026 F-List report here.

What counts as a fossil fuel client?

We consider a fossil fuel company to be:

• Companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, transportation, or sale of oil, gas, or coal
• Utilities and Electric Cooperatives that meet one or more of the following criteria:
  • Generate 50% or more of their electricity from fossil fuel
  • Generate 50% or more of their revenue from business in fossil fuels
  • Play an active role in funding new fossil fuel infrastructure
• Trade associations or other industry-funded nonprofit groups representing the interests of these companies, utilities, or cooperatives
• Any new entity meant to advance the message or goals of the above companies or groups, while obscuring or hiding their financial contributions.

A list of companies and lobby groups meeting this definition is available in our fossil client database.

Benefits of F-List Procurement:

The F-List is a convenient and online tool which allows anyone who cares about a safe climate future.

The F-List is available via the Clean Creatives website at: f-list.cleancreatives.org

Bookmark this URL (Ctrl/Cmd + D) and add it to your internal policies and onboarding materials for new staff.

The tool is organized in a few key ways:

Contracts

A full table of every recorded contract, filterable by country, region, agency, holding company (if relevant), and fossil fuel client.

Everything

The final tab of the F-List tool is an innovative and interactive search engine which contains all agencies, holding companies and fossil fuel clients. It allows you to follow the connections by typing any agency, holding company or fossil fuel company name and seeing all-at-once, the fossil fuel partnerships in the 2026 F-List.

Before engaging any PR or creative agency and at each contract renewable, run through the following steps:

1. Check the F-List. 
   1. Search f-list.cleancreatives.org for the agency and its parent holding company. A holding company with fossil fuel contracts across its network creates conflicts even if your specific agency isn’t directly listed.
2. Ask for full client disclosure. Request a full client list covering the last 3 years
   1. Do they have any current or recent contracts with fossil fuel related companies?
   2. Have they promoted campaigns which run contrary to your organization’s values and objectives?
   3. Are they owned by a holding company with other subsidiaries with fossil fuel contracts?
   4. Do they have sustainability and social responsibility policies, and does it address client work or only their own operations? 
   5. Note: Transparency is a baseline expectation. Reluctance to disclose is a red flag.
3. Request a fossil fuel free commitment. Ask if the agency has signed the Clean Creatives pledge.
   1. Ask if they have any internal guidelines or policies in place which prioritizes ethical clients over fossil fuels.
   2. Look for demonstrable actions, not just verbal statements.
4. Look for public accountability
   1. What does the agency’s public profile say?
   2. What does the public record show regarding the agency’s stance on climate change? What campaigns have they run, and for whom?
   3. What does the public record of the senior leadership of the agency say?
5. If they’re on the F-List, ask for a commitment to change
   1. Finding your agency on the F-List doesn’t have to mean ending the relationship immediately. It does mean starting a conversation.
   2. Ask them directly about the listed contract. When does it end and would they commit to not taking on new fossil fuel work? 
   3. Use the ACT Climate Labs’ Five Levers for Change as a resource to share with them.

Questions to ask your agencies

Use these in RFPs, contracts, or direct conversations:

• Have you ever worked on campaigns that promoted fossil fuel companies or related industries? If so, how long ago?
• Are you willing to commit to not working with fossil fuel companies in the future?
• Would you sign the Clean Creatives pledge?
• Do you have any internal policies about your approach to client selection, sustainability, and responsible business practices?
• If you currently have a fossil fuel contract, what is the timeline for that and would you commit to not renewing it? 

The final decision

Based on what you’ve learned, you’re now in a position to make an informed decision.

Safe to proceed

If the agency has no recent fossil fuel contracts and has either signed the Clean Creatives Pledge or has a documented commitment to a globally responsible business. Consider including fossil-free criteria in your contract to formalize the expectation going forward.

Proceed with caveats

If the agency is on the F-List or has recent fossil fuel contracts but demonstrates transparency and offers a genuine willingness to phase out fossil fuel clients or sign the Clean Creatives Pledge. Proceed with a clear timeline and written commitment in your agreement to ramp down fossil fuel work. Revisit it at the next contract renewal.

No deal

The agency is on the F-List, has worked or is currently working with fossil fuel companies, lacks transparency and ESG policies, and is unwilling to phase out its fossil fuel clients or sign the Clean Creatives Pledge. Walk away and use our database of pledged agencies to find a fossil-free alternative.