What Clean Creatives does

Clean Creatives is a pledge-based advocacy movement that organizes advertising and PR professionals, agencies, and brands to publicly commit to declining future work with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and front groups. Founded around 2020 and operating as a project under Fossil Free Media, the organization maintains a 1–10 person team and runs no commercial product; its offering is free to sign and free to access. Its core deliverables are research-driven: the F-List (an annual public database now in its 5th year, tracking 1,217 fossil fuel contracts held by 709 ad/PR agencies in 2024–2025), the FFIRE Index (a 2025-launched measure of agency revenue exposure to Big Oil), the Toxic Accounts report (2024 qualitative research on fossil fuel narrative strategy, produced with Source Nine Insights), the Off Ramp report (a roadmap for agencies to reduce fossil fuel dependency), the Fossil Client Database (over 400 fossil fuel entities), and a Brand Guide for clean brands. Distribution is entirely content- and community-led, via research publication, earned media, events, a website-based pledge portal, and a Clean Creatives badge that signatories display.

The go-to-market is community-led rather than commercial. Three pledge tracks (Agency, Individual Creative, Client) are signed directly on the website, producing a network of 1,600+ agencies and 3,700+ creatives across 60 countries. The organization does not charge for pledges, services, or data, and earns no revenue from its offerings; support flows from its relationship with Fossil Free Media and, presumably, philanthropic or grant funding. Its accountability mechanism rests on the annual publication of the F-List and related research, with the most consequential documented outcome being the 2024 loss of B Corp certification by four Havas agencies following Havas’s win of Shell’s global media contract.

There is no proprietary technology platform, no AI/ML component, and no commercial pricing model. The competitive position is built on the largest public dataset of agency-fossil fuel relationships, the cumulative credibility of five years of reporting, and a community scale that creates network and reputational switching costs; defensive moves have been limited to date, with the focus instead on annual product expansion and incremental geographic and linguistic reach (Portuguese and Spanish translations present on site).

Name

Clean Creatives

Legal name

Clean Creatives

Website

https://cleancreatives.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Clean Creatives is a non-commercial, pledge-based advocacy movement, hosted by Fossil Free Media, that organizes 1,600+ advertising and PR agencies and 3,700+ individual creatives across 60 countries to publicly decline work with fossil fuel clients, supported by an annual research database (the F-List), the FFIRE Index, and qualitative accountability reports.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Climate Advocacy Services

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Cause/Sustainability & Purpose-Driven Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAL)

Keywords

• Advertising accountability
• Fossil fuel divestment
• Climate advocacy
• Creative industry pledges
• Agency transparency

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Non-profit/Grant-funded Organization: Clean Creatives is described as a project supported by the Fossil Free Media team. The organization operates as a non-profit advocacy movement rather than a commercial enterprise with a revenue-generating product or service.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Clean Creatives runs a pledge-based advocacy movement that organizes advertising and PR agencies, individual creatives, and brands/clients to commit to declining future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, and front groups. The organization complements the pledges with research publications and public databases that document and expose agency relationships with fossil fuel clients. It is structured as a project under the nonprofit Fossil Free Media and offers no commercial product for sale.

Product overview

Clean Creatives is a movement and advocacy organization, not a traditional software company. Its core offerings consist of pledges (for agencies, individual creatives, and clients) to decline work with fossil fuel companies, combined with public databases and reports. The main products are: The F-List (annual database of fossil fuel contracts held by agencies), the FFIRE Index (financial risk measurement for agencies), the Toxic Accounts Report (qualitative research on fossil fuel advertising narratives), the Fossil Client Database (of over 400 fossil fuel companies), and the Off Ramp Report (roadmap for agencies to reduce fossil fuel revenue). These are complemented by the Clean Creatives Badge for pledge signers and the Brand Guide for clean brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The F-List The largest public database documenting relationships between advertising and PR agencies and their fossil fuel clients; the 2025 edition shares 1,217 fossil fuel contracts held by 709 advertising and PR agencies in 2024 and 2025.
• FFIRE Index (Fossil Fuel Income Risk Exposure) An index measuring major agencies' financial vulnerability based on their percentage of annual revenue from Big Oil, estimating which agencies earn commissions from fossil fuel clients by comparing fossil fuel revenue to holding companies' reported public revenue.
• Toxic Accounts Report A qualitative research report decoding the narrative shifts in fossil fuel campaigns between 2020 and 2024, documenting how narrative strategy in oil and gas companies' advertising and PR campaigns has shifted from greenwashing to gaslighting.
• Fossil Client Database A database of over 400 fossil fuel clients with over 50% revenue or generation from fossil fuels, including companies, trade groups, and front groups, filterable by country and industry.
• Agency Pledge A pledge for advertising and PR agencies to decline any future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, or front groups; signers receive the Clean Creatives badge and join a community of professional communicators.
• Individual Creative Pledge A pledge for individual creatives to decline any future contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, or front groups.
• Client Pledge A pledge for brands and clients to ask agencies in RFPs and reviews to commit to no contracts with fossil fuel companies, trade associations, or front groups.
• Clean Creatives Agency Database A searchable directory of over 1,600 agencies in 60 countries that have pledged not to work with fossil fuels, filterable by country, agency type, and mission statement.
• Clean Creatives Badge A brand asset badge eligible for use by pledge signers (agencies, creatives, and clients) to show clients and talent their commitment to values and a future free of fossil fuel pollution.
• Off Ramp Report A report presenting a roadmap for agencies to reduce reliance on fossil fuel revenue; the figures in this report are used as the basis for FFIRE index calculations.
• Brand Guide A guidance document for clean brands to decarbonize their creative agencies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Four Havas agencies stripped of B Corp certification in 2024 after Havas won Shell's global media contract, resulting in potential $100 million loss for Havas based on staff retention, lost contracts, and sunk costs of lost certifications.
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Fossil Free MediacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClean Creatives is a project supported by the Fossil Free Media team. Fossil Free Media provides organizational support and infrastructure for Clean Creatives operations.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• AdGreen: UK-based non-profit helping the advertising production industry measure and reduce its carbon footprint. Closest direct peer: similar advocacy-within-advertising model, nonprofit structure, and mission to decarbonize the creative supply chain.
• Conscious Advertising Network: UK-based voluntary coalition of advertisers, agencies, and media owners committed to ethical advertising standards. Direct peer in operating a pledge-and-accountability model applied to the advertising industry on social/ethical dimensions.

Emerging players

• Futerra: Sustainability-focused creative communications agency producing campaigns for climate and social causes. Emerging player in the purpose-driven creative space that Clean Creatives' signatories represent.
• 1% for the Planet: Non-profit network connecting businesses with environmental nonprofits through a 1% of sales commitment model. Comparable in mobilizing business participation around environmental causes, though focused on donations rather than client/work selection.
• Real Chemical: Sustainability-focused creative agency serving climate and impact-driven brands. Emerging player within the clean-creative ecosystem that Clean Creatives' signatory directory surfaces.

Others

• InfluenceMap: Independent research organization tracking corporate climate lobbying and messaging, including advertising influence. Comparable research-driven approach to exposing fossil fuel influence, though focused on corporate lobbying rather than agency relationships.
• Greenpeace: Global environmental advocacy organization running high-profile campaigns against fossil fuel companies. Adjacent peer as a larger-scale environmental advocacy organization targeting fossil fuel industry practices, though much broader in scope.
• Climate Action Tracker: Independent scientific analysis tracking government climate commitments and corporate climate action. Comparable as a research-driven accountability organization in the climate space, though focused on policy rather than advertising.

Broad incumbents

• B Lab Global: Non-profit certifying body for B Corp certification, which stripped four Havas agencies of certification in 2024 in a Clean Creatives-attributable accountability outcome. Operates as a broader incumbent in business accountability and certification.
• Purpose: Global purpose-driven communications and creative agency that builds campaigns for social and climate causes. Operates as a commercial incumbent in the same purpose-driven creative space that Clean Creatives advocates for.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clean-creatives

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Clean Creatives