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The role of public relations firms in climate change politics

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Abstract

Climate change policy has long been subject to influence by a wide variety of organizations. Despite their importance, the key role of public relations (PR) firms has long been overlooked in the climate political space. This paper provides an exploratory overview of the extent and nature of involvement of PR firms in climate political action by organizations in five sectors: Coal/Steel/Rail, Oil & Gas, Utilities, Renewable Energy, and the Environmental Movement. The analysis shows that the engagement of public relations firms by organizations in all of these sectors is widespread. In absolute terms, the Utility and Gas & Oil sectors engage the most PR firms, and the Environmental Movement engages the fewest. Organizations in the Utilities Sector show a statistically significant higher use of PR firms than the other sectors. Within each sector, engagement of PR firms is concentrated in a few firms, and the major oil companies and electrical-supply manufactures are the heaviest employers of such firms. PR firms generally specialize in representing specific sectors, and a few larger PR firms are widely engaged in climate and energy political activity. PR firms developed campaigns that frequently relied on third-party groups to engage with the public, criticize opponents, and serve as the face of an advertising campaign. Our analysis shows that PR firms are a key organizational actor in climate politics.

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Notes

  1. https://www.earthhour.org/our-mission.

  2. See the attached Supplemental Material.

  3. See Table S-8 in the Supplemental Material.

  4. A detailed description of the methods used to construct the PR firm profiles is provided in the Supplementary Material.

  5. See the Supplemental Material for a detailed discussion of the development of the PR strategies categorization.

  6. See the Supplemental Material for a full description of these tactics.

  7. Sig = 0.017.

  8. Sig = 0.05.

  9. Sig = 0.001.

  10. Data for 1999 by linear interpolation.

  11. Network metrics provided in Table S-3 in the Supplemental Material.

  12. Data on the ten organizations with the largest number of engagements by sector provided in Table S-1.

  13. Data on the ten PR firms with the largest number of engagements by sector provided in Table S-2.

  14. Network metrics provided in Tables S-4 to S-7 in the Supplemental Material.

  15. See the Supplemental Material for a full description of these tactics.

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Acknowledgements

The successful completion of this paper was enabled by an excellent research team of undergraduate students composed of Kimberly Collins, Maya Jackson, Kian Kafaie, Eve Lukens-Day, and Emily Rockwell. Their diligence, tenacity, and attention to detail made this research possible.

Funding

This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation Sociology program Grant #1558207 “The Role of Information and Influence Campaigns in Structuring Responses to U.S. Policy 1988–2015” and a grant from the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, Providence, RI.

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Correspondence to Robert J. Brulle.

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Brulle, R.J., Werthman, C. The role of public relations firms in climate change politics. Climatic Change 169, 8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03244-4

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