‘Ethical’ advertising activists rely on cash from controversial mining firms and Russian oligarchs

Its environmental manifesto calls on brands and advertisers to champion sustainability, directing them to consider if “conscious consumption principles” are in their adverts and asking: “Could you cut down the length of your ad to decrease emissions produced by it?”

Despite its lengthy environmentalist manifesto, the network came under fire by industry bodies last month as it was revealed that its major funder, Quadrature Capital, was profiting from shares held in fossil fuel companies. CAN stated at the time that it would be speaking to Quadrature about the revelations, which it said was "new information for us" and contrary to CAN’s values.

But speaking to industry publication The Drum, CEO Jake Dubbins said that the network could not return the funds “without ceasing to exist,” despite them being at odds with the company’s environmentalist political ethos.

GB News can now reveal that CAN’s funders, Quadrature Capital, are also profiting from shares held in a Russian company headed by a close ally of Vladimir Putin and Latin American mining operations that have been accused of human rights abuses, including the suppression of indigenous people.

The investment company holds 17,304 shares in Ozon Holdings, which are worth over $100,000.

Ozon is a Russian e-commerce platform, the CEO of which is the oligarch Alexander Alexandrovich Shulgin, who is currently facing sanctions in Britain and across the West for his links to Vladimir Putin.

Shulgin also attended the infamous Kremlin meeting on February 24, 2022 when Putin secured support from the country’s top oligarchs for his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Shulgin was subject to a travel ban and asset freeze by the Foreign Office in April 2022. Issuing the British government’s sanctions on Shulgin, it said: “Alexander Alexandrovich Shulgin, a leading businessperson and CEO of Ozon, Russia’s leading multi-category e-commerce platform. Shulgin also attended the 24 February meeting of oligarchs at the Kremlin with Putin.

The EU has already sanctioned this individual due to his close ties to Putin and for undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Shulgin is subject to a travel ban and asset freeze.”

Former Ozon board member, Felix Evtushenkov, was forced to resign in April 2023 after he was included on the UK sanction list. His father Vladimir reportedly supplied Putin with drones used in bombing raids in Ukraine.

CAN’s funders Quadrature also owns shares worth $3 million in Pan American Silver Corporation, a company facing mass protests against its plans to develop mines in South America.

Locals in several countries have voiced concerns about the environmental impacts of the company’s mining processes and pollution of water sources.

The company’s operations have also led to the increased militarisation of areas already affected by conflict, leaving many communities grappling with heavy metal contamination and having their land dispossessed in order to expand mining operations.

Quadrature also owns over $10 million of shares in Newmont Corporation, the second-largest mining company that has a history of human rights abuses, affecting indigenous communities, and jeopardising local water supplies.

An internal review by the company in 2016 concluded that its Peruvian subsidiary had put “human rights… at risk” and failed to meet international standards for corporate responsibility.

This echoed similar findings in Ghana, where the company had overseen “unsafe living and working conditions, corruption, lack of proper and adequate consultation and consent, noise and water pollution, assault.”

In 2022 the company faced opposition in North America as a result of its track record of human rights abuses, with a Canadian local assembly member asserting that: “Allegations of human rights abuses have followed this corporation wherever they go.”

On its website, CAN describes its goal is to “become a leading global movement in human rights-based advertising.”

The network has also stated that it was “proud to have built the case for ethical advertising at the United Nations.”

The network was established by activists involved in pressure group Stop Funding Hate, which has led advertising boycotts against this broadcaster and other news outlets such as the Sun, the Daily Mail, and the Daily Express.

Last week, the Sunday Telegraph reported that CAN’s head of advocacy Alex Murray worked for four years as Stop Funding Hate’s community organiser and its co-founder was an “unpaid advisor” to the pressure group.

CAN’s code on so-called hate speech was drafted in cooperation with Stop Funding Hate, which commits brands that sign up to “avoid advertising with media outlets that fuel hatred on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, migration status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, disability or any other group characteristic.”

The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) tells members to start “embedding Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) criteria in company internal policies, creative guidelines and agency briefs.”

The ‘big five’ advertising agencies account for 80 percent of expenditure in the advertising industry, holding considerable power, and all of them have signed up to CAN.

WPP and Omnicom signed up to CAN’s charter in 2021 before Publicis joined in 2022. The Interpublic Group and Dentsu made similar commitments this year.

Lord Frost said: “It is extraordinary that respectable global advertising agencies are associated with an organisation like the Conscious Advertising Network. It is very surprising that they seem to be comfortable with the way CAN funds itself.

"ISBA and the agencies really should consider the reputational damage and dissociate themselves from CAN immediately.”

The former Cabinet Office minister added: “The effect of bodies like CAN is to make it difficult for people and organisations they disagree with to promote their views.

"That’s why I have said we need a Free Speech Act, to make it clear that participation in the public square is for everyone, not just for those with approved progressive opinions.”

WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic Group and Dentsu were all contacted for comment.

Marsha Jackson, CAN's Project Director, told GB News that the network was reviewing its links with Quadrature: "Firstly, we want to thank you for bringing this information to our attention. CAN was not aware of these investments in the same way we were not aware of the links to fossil fuel interests.

"Our relationship is with Quadrature Climate Foundation not Quadrature Capital. We have never spoken to or dealt with anyone at Quadrature Capital. Quadrature Climate Foundation is a UK charity and we have found no evidence that the charity is linked to fossil fuels or human rights abuses."

She added: "We condemn any investments that profit from war, human rights abuses or environmental destruction. We are reviewing our relationship with Quadrature Climate Foundation in light of the recent Guardian article and will be including the information you have shared in this review and in our processes for future funding."