Guardian goes green as it bans advertising from fossil fuel firms
The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies as the media group looks to cut its links with fossil fuel firms.
The move, announced today, will apply across the publisher’s websites and apps, as well as in print copies of the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Weekly.
“Our decision is based on the decades-long efforts by many in that industry to prevent meaningful climate action by governments around the world,” the company said in a statement.
It is understood the new policy will cost Guardian Media Group (GMG) around £500,000 per year.
In a blog post, chief customer officer Anna Bateson and chief revenue officer Hamish Nicklin acknowledged that some readers would like to see the company ban ads from products with a high carbon footprint, such as cars or holiday.
But they said cutting those ads would be a “severe financial blow” that might force the newspaper group to make significant cuts.
Advertising accounts for roughly 40 per cent of revenue at the Guardian, which last year posted a profit of £0.8m — its first in two decades.
The company hailed the profit as a key step in the firm’s turnaround plan, though the figures did not include an annual of between £25m and £30m due to the Scott Trust which, included, would take the group into a loss.
The ad measures are the media group’s latest efforts to improve its green credentials, both commercially and editorially.
Five years ago GMG shifted the investment portfolio of the Scott Trust Endowment fund — which supports the Guardian — away from fossil fuel investments, which now represent less than one per cent of its total funds.
Meanwhile editor-in-chief Katherine Viner last year announced the newspaper titles would change its style guide to introduce new terms such as “climate emergency” and “global heating” in an effort to ramp up the urgency in its environmental reporting.
The advertising ban follows similar efforts by major UK organisations to distance themselves from fossil fuel firms.
The British Museum and the RSC have both dropped oil giant BP as sponsors, while the National Theatre has cut its partnership with Shell.
However, Channel 4 this month defended its decision to partner with BP for its coverage of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.