Guardian Media Group has vowed to no longer accept advertising from fossil fuel companies across its titles in either digital or print, despite the inevitable hit to its revenues.
In a company blog post, chief customer officer Anna Bateson and chief revenue officer Hamish Nicklin said the publisher had made the decision based on “the decades-long efforts” of companies in the fossil fuel industry to “prevent meaningful climate action by governments around the world.”
“Of course we know some readers would like us to go further, banning ads for any product with a significant carbon footprint, such as cars or holidays. Stopping those ads would be a severe financial blow, and might force us to make significant cuts to Guardian and Observer journalism around the world,” the blog continued.
“More importantly, fossil fuel extractors are qualitatively different. The intent – and extent – of their lobbying efforts has explicitly harmed the environmental cause over the course of many years.”
Advertising accounted for 40% of total revenues for GMG’s Guardian News and Media subsidiary in its last financial year, remaining the publisher’s largest single revenue stream.
Admitting that rejecting fossil fuel ads might cause problems in the short term, the company said it believes that “building a more purposeful organisation and remaining financially sustainable have to go hand in hand”.
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In October last year, GMG became certified as a B Corporation and pledged to reduce the Guardian’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. The company is to publish how it plans to reach that goal later this year.
Meanwhile, in 2015 GMG announced efforts to divest itself of fossil fuel companies, launching the ‘Keep It In The Ground’ campaign to encourage other companies to do the same.
Today’s news follows a petition organised by Greenpeace calling for an end to oil advertising in the media, which has since been signed by more than 125,000 petitioners.
Commenting, Mel Evans, senior climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said the Guardian’s decision is a “watershed moment” which should be applauded.
“For too long fossil fuel giants like BP and Shell, who are causing our climate emergency, have been able to get away with greenwash advertising while investing 97% of their business in oil and gas,” she said.
“Oil and gas firms now find themselves alongside tobacco companies as businesses that threaten the health and well-being of everyone on this planet.
“Other media outlets, arts and sports organisations must now follow suit and end fossil fuel company advertising and sponsorship.”
