Video of today’s launch of the Break the Fossil Influence initiative in Geneva, featuring:
- Shweta Narayan, Campaign Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance
- Moderator: Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director, Global Climate and Health Alliance
- Vivek Parekh, Program Manager, Influence Map
- Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health
- Dr Viviana Martinez Bianchi, President elect, World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA)
- Mirjana Arlaud, CEO, Future by Design
- Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change and Health Unit, World Health Organization
Geneva, 22 May 2025:- 30 influential organisations representing the interests of over 12 million health professionals worldwide — including major global health voices and health professional associations at the international, national, and regional levels—have signed a commitment to no longer work with PR and ad agencies that also provide services to the fossil fuel industry.
The organisations have signed up to the Break the Fossil Influence – Fossil-Free Health Communications campaign, which launches today during the World Health Assembly (WHA 78) in Geneva. Organisations that have made the commitment include Amref Health Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), The Lancet, along with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, (IFMSA), the World Federation of Public Health Association(WFPHA), World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA), Yale Center on Climate Change and Health, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC).
To support more organisations in making the Fossil-Free Health Communications commitment, the Global Climate and Health Alliance has published Break the Fossil Influence – Guidance for Health Organizations to Screen PR & Media Agencies.
“Fossil fuels are making people sick—and the companies behind them are spending millions on advertising and PR to cover it up”, said Shweta Narayan, Campaign Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, which developed the initiative. “The same PR firms spreading fossil fuel disinformation are also working with health organizations—a clear conflict of interest for health. Through the Break the Fossil Influence – Fossil-Free Health Communications commitment, health organizations are leading by example by cutting ties with agencies that provide services to the fossil fuel industry.”
“Health organizations have great power that they can bring to bear in their hiring of advertising, marketing, and design companies by choosing to work only with agencies that do not take money from fossil fuel companies”, said Jeni Miller, Global Executive Director of Climate and Health Alliance. “The Fossil-Free Health Communications Commitment is a way for the health sector to show leadership not just by speaking out or by making their own operations sustainable and climate resilient, but by refusing to work with businesses that support polluters.”
“Just like health leaders once stood up to Big Tobacco and its advertising, it’s time to stand up to Big Oil”, continued Miller. “By making the Fossil-Free Health Communications commitment, organizations are demonstrating that they won’t help spread fossil fuel disinformation, and will use every tool they have, including their ad and PR dollars to protect people’s health and the planet.“
“Ad and PR agencies should listen to the overwhelming medical evidence of the harm of fossil fuels, and drop polluting clients immediately. Fossil fuel pollution is a threat to every aspect of human health, and incompatible with the business goals of the rest of the ad industry”, said Duncan Meisel, Executive Director, Clean Creatives. “The organisations signing this new commitment are laying down an important marker for the entire health sector: agencies with fossil fuel clients have a clear conflict of interest for any company trying to protect human health.”
“It is important as a health industry to make a stand, like we did during the anti-tobacco campaign, that we will not engage with PR companies and advertising agencies that are assisting fossil fuel companies to conceal the truth. And by doing so, we will force them to make the right choice. And the right choice is a choice for health and for healthy communities.” – Dr Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO, Amref Health Africa
“As health professionals guided by humanitarian values, we have a responsibility to speak out when public health is under threat. Fossil fuels are at the heart of a growing global health crisis, and the PR and advertising firms that help obscure this reality undermine efforts to protect lives. We call on our peers and institutions to reconsider partnerships with agencies that serve fossil fuel interests. Aligning our communications with our mission is essential to safeguarding health and maintaining public trust.” – Dr Maria Guevara, International Medical Secretary for Médecins Sans Frontières
“We, the health community, have a duty to warn humanity about the profound health harms being created by burning fossil fuels—including from air pollution and climate change—and to act on that knowledge. The public relations and advertising agencies that represent fossil fuel companies—coal, oil, and gas companies—are aiding and abetting these profound harms to public health. We must take a stand by refusing to work with any marketing agency that works with fossil fuel companies. Our duty, our integrity, and our credibility demand nothing less”. – Edward Maibach, Director, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication and Member, National Academy of Medicine and Former Worldwide Director of Social Marketing, Porter Novelli
“As nurses, we recognize climate change as one of the greatest public health threats of our time. Every day, health professionals around the world are taking care of patients with health conditions like asthma, problems with pregnancies, cardiac issues, and more, that are exacerbated by climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution. For decades, fossil fuel companies have misled the public and obstructed climate action. As health professionals and health organizations, we need to hold ourselves to the highest standards and should not do business with PR and communications firms that also work with fossil fuel companies. Their history of disinformation has no place within the healthcare community.” – Katie Huffling, Executive Director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
“As family doctors, we see how air pollution and climate change, driven by fossil fuels, harm our patients’ health daily. We must advocate for a rapid, just transition to clean energy for the sake of current and future generations.” – Prof Karen Flegg, President, World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA)
“As health leaders we want to breathe life into solutions to climate change so we can safeguard health, wellbeing and life. We need to turn off the oxygen of the fossil fuel industry and the communication they use to deceive and persist”. – Michele Isles, CEO, Climate and Health Alliance, Australia
“The climate crisis is a health crisis, and Canada is already experiencing its effects – from wildfires to extreme weather and rising insurance costs. Health, housing, food, and financial security are all at risk. Governments must act with courage and urgency. Yet, the fossil fuel industry – supported by misleading advertising and public relations tactics, much like those once used by the tobacco industry – continues to sow confusion and delay meaningful action. As health professionals and system leaders, we must cut ties with advertising and PR agencies that serve the fossil fuel industry. We must make it clear that we care about health – and we do not want their services. Join the Break the Fossil Influence campaign – and demand fossil-free health communications.” – Doris Grinspun, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO)
“In a world on fire, health professionals must lead with truth. We cannot claim to protect life while partnering with those who profit from its destruction. It’s time for the climate and health community to cut ties with the PR machines fueling fossil fuel deception—because silence is complicity, and health demands courage.” — Dr. Kate Wylie, CEO, Doctors for the Environment Australia
ENDS
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, Global Climate and Health Alliance, [email protected], +34 691 826 764 (Available from 0630 CET)
About GCHA
The Global Climate and Health Alliance is a consortium of more than 200 health professionals and health civil society organisations and networks from around the world addressing climate change. We are united by a shared vision of an equitable, sustainable future, in which the health impacts of climate change are minimised, and the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation are maximised.
Find out more: https://climateandhealthalliance.org/who-we-are/about/
