The European Union has backed its decision to hire a Republican-linked PR firm with a string of fossil fuel clients.
Washington-based consultancy DCI Group was employed by the EUโs delegation to the U.S. days before President Donald Trumpโs election on November 5, with a brief to advise on โcommunications and public engagement strategy [with] an emphasis on promoting EU trade and investment in the United Statesโ.ย
The appointment was revealed last week by Politico, as EU member states reacted to Trumpโs threats to impose sweeping tariffs around the U.S. market.
DeSmog has since found that the consultancy has represented Americaโs largest oil and gas trade body, which has a history of casting doubt on established climate science.
Alongside fossil fuel giants Shell and ExxonMobil, DCI Groupโs 2024 clients include the American Petroleum Institute (API), the main trade association and lobby group for U.S. oil interests which once outlined its goal to promote โuncertaintiesโ about climate change and make it a โnon-issueโ.
The EU has defended its work with the consultancy, while appearing to downplay its significance. In an emailed statement to DeSmog on Thursday, the delegation revealed that it had signed โa very low value contractโ of $15,000 (ยฃ12,000) with DCI Group for a four month period.
โThe European Union delegationโs decision to work with a consulting firm is aimed at fostering dialogue on key issues, including trade,โ the EU spokesperson said.
โIt is standard practice for diplomatic missions to reach out to diverse political groups, ensuring that all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, can have a better understanding of EU policies.โ
The EU delegation did not respond to DeSmogโs questions about whether DCIโs fossil fuel and mining clients could represent a conflict with the EUโs endangered climate and nature targets.
The DCI Group has boasted about its new client on its website, claiming that the EU โpulled the ace out of its sleeve in the trade war with the United Statesโ by hiring โformer close associates of Donald Trumpโ.
Pascoe Sabido, a campaigner at non-profit Corporate Europe Observatory, said DCIโs client list could demonstrate a โglaringโ conflict of interest.
โThe European Commission should not be hiring lobby firms that have represented big polluters,โ he told DeSmog.
โIt shows just how normalised the fossil fuel industry and their enablers have become in Brussels. Who else is the firm representing, and is it using its contract with the Commission to help its other clients?โ
DCI Group has also been named in an ongoing U.S. justice department investigation into the alleged hacking of climate activists who had filed lawsuits against ExxonMobil for misleading the public over fossil fuelsโ impact on climate change. Both DCI Group and ExxonMobil have previously denied involvement in the hacking.
DCI and the American Petroleum Institute did not respond to DeSmogโs requests for comment.
American Petroleum Institute
The EUโs deployment of DCI comes amid an anti-green backlash fuelled by a global rise in populist right-wing parties.
Since his election on January 20, President Donald Trump has vowed to increase fossil fuel extraction, remove mention of climate change from government websites, and ban offshore wind. In the EU, a raft of ambitious policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions are at risk following a rightward shift in last yearโs European elections.
DeSmog has previously reported how Trumpโs Republican party enjoys a close relationship with the American Petroleum Institute, and has received significant funding from oil and gas companies.
In 2020 the group reportedly received $10 million from Shell alone. The API spent $6,250,000 on lobbying in 2024, according to the Open Secrets database.
Last month the API welcomed Donald Trumpโs executive orders to โunleash American energyโ, including new domestic oil drilling in Alaska, lifting the pause on LNG exports, and โroll[ing] back heavy handed vehicle mandatesโ.
A 20 January API press release said: โThis is a new day for American energy, and we applaud President Trump for moving swiftly to chart a new path where U.S. oil and natural gas are embraced, not restricted.โ
In 2018, the API launched a project โto convince Hispanic and black communities to support the Trump administrationโs proposed expansion of offshore drillingโ.
The group has a long record of opposing climate action and working to discredit climate science. In 1998 an API โcommunications planโ, obtained by The New York Times and Greenpeace in 2007, said the groupโs aim was to promote โuncertaintyโ about climate change and embed that into โconventional wisdomโ.
It added: โUnless โclimate changeโ becomes a non-issue, meaning that the Kyoto proposal is defeated and there are no further initiatives to thwart the threat of climate change, there may be no moment when we can declare victory for our efforts.โ
In 2003, API partly funded a paper co-authored by Willie Soon, a Malaysian astrophysicist, claiming the climate has not changed in 2,000 years. Soon, who has received funding from fossil fuel interests, has also claimed that climate change is caused by solar activity.
DCI also worked for Citizensโ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). The pro-fossil fuel lobby group has praised oil, gas and coal power, and claimed in 2015: โScientists cannot even agree whether there IS a global warming trend at this time, much less agree to its cause.โ
Climate scientists at the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have stressed that โit is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planetโ. 2024 was the hottest year on record, with the Paris Agreement to limit catastrophic temperature rises โin grave dangerโ, according to experts at the World Health Organization.
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