The latest insights from the We Mean Business coalition

Harnessing the power of public affairs to accelerate transition plan delivery

Today, over 9,000 companies globally have validated science-based targets and nearly 6,000 have disclosed their transition plans. But without enabling policies in place, there is only so far companies can go in translating their plans into action efficiently.  

Whether it’s clean energy incentives, carbon pricing mechanisms, or regulatory clarity on emerging technologies, the policy environment directly shapes what is feasible, it’s affordability, and at what pace. A company committed to electrifying its fleet, for example, cannot succeed without supportive charging infrastructure – something only federal, state, and/or local government policies can unlock.  

As companies move from transition planning to implementation, actively advocating for enabling policies has become critical to transition plan delivery. To do so, companies are increasingly taking up Responsible Policy Engagement (RPE). Developed with We Mean Business Coalition partners, the RPE Framework outlines key steps and resources companies can use to align their advocacy efforts with the advancement of their transition plans and publicly disclose what their advocacy efforts and investments are going toward.  

A central part of putting RPE into practice is understanding a company’s levers of influence within the policymaking space. These levers range from direct engagement with policymakers to trade association memberships. RPE also involves assessing a company’s financial influence relevant to climate policy, such as ensuring investment and procurement decisions don’t inadvertently fund advocacy that undermines supportive climate policies.  

While trade associations have historically attracted the most attention due to their significant resource and influence, corporate public affairs departments, and the agencies they rely on, also play a decisive role in shaping the political debate and policy outcomes. Yet compared with other professional service providers, public affairs agencies have received far less scrutiny or guidance on aligning their work with their clients’ climate goals.  

This gap has created a blind spot for companies. A company may have strong supply chain strategies as well as trade association alignment processes, but little visibility into whether its public affairs partners are simultaneously working for clients or taking positions that contradict the very policies its transition plan depends on.  

According to recent research from The Good Lobby, many of the top public affairs and law firms lobby on behalf of fossil fuel clients and yet retain relationships with clients that advocate for pro-climate policies. How can companies ensure their public affairs partners are consistently championing the policy environment their transition plans depend on? 

Here we outline how by aligning the public affairs function with climate goals, companies can strengthen their own transition plan delivery, and some suggested steps to consider for achieving this alignment.  

A force multiplier for action 

Like trade associations, public affairs teams and their agency partners directly influence the policy environment. Their work may involve designing advocacy strategies, preparing executives for political engagement and, importantly, the public messaging and narratives used. They are also often involved in implementation of advocacy tactics, going well beyond just advising and getting directly involved in lobbying activities themselves.  

When aligned with corporate climate commitments, public affairs teams and their agencies can become force multipliers: translating corporate transition requirements into policy priorities, identifying enabling frameworks that benefit entire sectors, and helping build the market conditions that make ambitious climate action economically viable.  

Public affairs should be recognized as a vital strategic function that will enable companies to successfully deliver their transition plans. This function is supported by external agencies: while there is huge variation across companies and industries, a growing percentage of public affairs budgets – and wider marketing and PR spend – is going to external agencies.  

Drawing on existing frameworks to close the public affairs gap 

Fortunately, some of the groundwork has been laid. Many of the major principles of RPE, and particularly those concerning trade association alignment, can apply to public affairs agencies, such as mapping relationships, assessing climate alignment, and acknowledging misalignments.  

Additionally, a new area of corporate accountability – serviced emissions – has emerged that is generating several useful frameworks worth learning from. Coined by Oxford Net Zero and Race to Zero, serviced emissions – which refers to the emissions that arise from the activities of a client, informed or enabled by the advice or counsel of a professional service provider (PSP) – is a newer area of corporate accountability, but one that is quickly maturing. The idea is that PSPs are not neutral intermediaries, but active shapers of climate outcomes through the influence they exert. 

The serviced emissions landscape offers sector-specific guidance that spans a variety of PSPs, from the pioneering work of Clean Creatives, Purpose Disruptors, Creatives for Climate, and ACT Climate Labs for advertising agencies, to industry guidance for law firms from Legal Charter 1.5, for management consultancy from Exponential Roadmap Initiative, and for trade groups from Climate Action for Associations. Recently, Oxford Net Zero launched the Serviced Emissions Hub, bringing many of these leading PSP initiatives together under one roof, while also starting to engage leading clients. 

But little focus has been put on public affairs firms specifically, until recently.  

Public affairs in the spotlight 

In summer 2025, The Good Lobby’s research on public affairs agencies brought the sector squarely into this serviced emissions conversation and put a spotlight on the agencies that are representing both sides of the climate conversation.  

However, firms like #SustainablePublicAffairs are proving that an alternative model is possible and financially viable, having been named a Best Public Affairs Consultancy in Brussels. #SustainablePublicAffairs explicitly integrates climate alignment into its client vetting and even issued its own response to the EU 2040 target consultation.  

Most recently, Third Side Strategies released their Public Affairs Governance Review guidance, providing companies with a structured diagnostic to assess how public affairs is governed across markets and issues. 

Forward-looking agencies have a significant opportunity to position themselves as partners to companies focused on transition plan implementation. By being consistent about their client base and therefore the policy positions they are helping to advocate for, agencies can also help to accelerate growth of clean sectors, thereby creating growth opportunities for themselves too. The clean tech sector is an example of a huge growth opportunity. Public affairs agencies looking to grow their offering to clients would do well to ensure their own processes and strategies are in place to take advantage. 

Despite this growth in attention for public affairs, more tangible guidance for both companies and agencies is needed. 

Building on the broader serviced emissions landscape and the RPE Framework, we offer here some initial recommendations both for companies looking to ensure their public affairs partners support their transition plans and public affairs agencies seeking to align with clients’ climate commitments. We are interested in hearing from practitioners working in this area about the opportunities and challenges, as we further develop this area of work.   

Considerations for companies 

For companies seeking to ensure their public affairs partners support their transition plans, three practical mechanisms can drive alignment: 

1. Start with a governance review 

As the RPE Framework recommends mapping a company’s links to trade associations and assessing their alignment, companies should also map their relationships with public affairs agencies across all markets and business units. Before effectively managing external relationships, gaining visibility into how the public affairs function currently operates is key: Third Side Strategies’ Public Affairs Governance Review provides a structured diagnostic to understand how policy advocacy is governed, where decision-making authority sits, what oversight mechanisms exist, and how well current practices align with stated commitments. 

2. Integrate climate considerations into public affairs procurement

Procurement processes offer direct levers for driving alignment. Procurement counterparts are an important place to start, including discussing climate alignment opportunities broadly and how public affairs agencies may be a useful starting point. Companies can also explore introducing specific climate criteria in bidding processes, such as requesting Client Disclosure Reports or climate-alignment assessment questionnaires, which can provide a filter at the outset. Evaluation frameworks can then be set up to prioritize agencies with strong climate alignment for new engagements, with mechanisms to highlight preferred partners or significant portfolio conflicts. Consider also adding contractual provisions that explicitly mention climate alignment expectations and requesting annual updates on potential conflicts.   

3. Strengthen ongoing oversight

Similar to the RPE Framework’s suggested approach to trade association engagement, companies should be prepared to address misalignments when discovered. This may mean working with agencies to improve their climate alignment, publicly distancing from problematic positions or changing agency relationships when necessary. Companies can create clear oversight of public affairs activities across all markets and business units, develop mechanisms for regular review of agency relationships and work products, and establish feedback loops between sustainability teams and public affairs functions. 

Considerations for public affairs agencies 

Three core action areas are emerging for forward-thinking agencies to incorporate:  

1. Understand the impact and set a vision

Agencies cannot meaningfully align with client climate commitments without first understanding the impact of their own influence. Public affairs firms can begin by mapping their current client portfolio, including what proportion of their revenue is tied to fossil fuel interests or clients advocating against climate policy. Resources such as Clean Creatives’ Off-Ramp guide, ACT Climate Lab’s Blueprint and Creatives for Climate’s Industry Playbook offer practical methods for assessing an agency’s influence footprint. These resources can help agencies set a vision for climate alignment with their current baseline in mind, including shifting away from conflicting clients, piloting new service offerings, and being transparent about challenges and progress.

2. Disclose client portfolios 

Consider providing transparency around your client portfolio, particularly regarding clients whose policy positions may delay climate policy progress. To understand where a company stands on climate policy it is useful to see if they’ve set a science-based climate target and how they are assessed on their climate policy engagement by InfluenceMap. By providing disclosure around client lists, agencies can help current and prospective clients understand potential conflicts within your portfolio. This doesn’t necessarily mean disclosing specific client names or contract details, but rather calculating revenue share by industry, such as the standard that Client Disclosure Reporting suggests agencies adhere to. Though it should be noted that public affairs agencies in the EU already have to disclose their clients and fees to the EU Transparency Register annually, more here. 

3. Establish client vetting criteria and internal governance mechanisms 

Agencies may also consider establishing client criteria that factor in climate commitments and goals, drawing on models like #SustainablePublicAffairs’ Sustainability Charter. This means assessing potential engagements for their climate impact, declining work that would undermine climate progress, and transitioning away from fossil fuel clients or those actively delaying policy. Resources like Legal Charter 1.5’s Matter Classification Tool or Exponential Roadmap Initiative’s Professional Services Matrix can help agencies in categorizing engagements by their climate impact, tracking which clients have credible transition plans, ensuring senior oversight of climate related client decisions, and putting in place mechanisms to identify and address portfolio conflicts.  

Looking ahead 

As more companies adopt RPE practices and the serviced emissions landscape matures, clearer expectations for PSPs are also emerging. The resources laid out here provide a starting point for clients and their public affairs agencies to ensure advocacy efforts support corporate transition plans. 

For agencies, early movers can position themselves as preferred partners for companies serious about delivering on their climate commitments. For companies, there is an opportunity to translate these principles into practical governance, procurement, and accountability mechanisms that ensure public affairs becomes a true accelerator of climate action.  

Recent headlines underscore the stakes: several recently-published leaked documents show that a coalition of mostly US heavy emitters collaborated to weaken the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), including its climate transition plans requirements, through engagements with EU institutions and national governments throughout Europe. These engagements, which were facilitated by a public affairs firm, detail the comprehensive strategy and advocacy tactics utilized by the group.  

This finding illuminates the need to strengthen corporate lobbying standards, acknowledge the role of public affairs firms, and close disclosure gaps. While the EU Transparency Register requires registration of certain activities, it relies on self-reported data and doesn’t cover national-level lobbying in member states. In partnership with Corporate Leaders Group, WMBC recently outlined several recommendations for raising corporate advocacy standards and closing these gaps.  

Whether you’re a company integrating climate considerations into your public affairs function or an agency developing climate alignment practices, we’d like to hear about the opportunities and challenges you’re encountering. Please contact Dominic Gogol ([email protected]) to share your thoughts or learn more about this evolving area of work.