25/04/2025
After over a year of research, The Good Lobby has teamed up with The Guardian to unveil the first dataset of public affairs and law firms that lobby on behalf of the fossil fuel industry in the EU.
This research – based primarily on a “big data” analysis of the EU Transparency Register – found that many of the major lobbying firms, such as FTI Consulting, Burson, and Rud Pedersen, act for fossil fuel companies. As such, they enable climate inaction by helping shape climate policies in favour of corporate interests and business models that undermine global efforts to combat the climate crisis. Despite their public commitments to sustainability and their ability to drop these clients that on average only account for very a minor share of their revenues, they facilitate access and influence for obstructive fossil fuel companies to delay climate action.
Our theory of change is that by disclosing the ‘enablers’ of fossil fuel companies some of them may consider dropping those clients. Moreover, by identifying the most fossil fuel-entrenched firms, we aim to illuminate the structural dynamics that perpetuate fossil fuel lobbying by empowering anyone to hold public affairs and law firms accountable for their clients’ choice.
