WPP PLC – Lobbying Governance & Transparency

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Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Moderate	As part of its Political Activities and Engagement Policy, WPP PLC’s "Group Corporate Affairs Director has responsibility for developing and implementing our political activity policy and public reporting procedures," with local CEOs and CFOs tasked with implementation. Under a revised Assignment Acceptance Policy and Framework, the company requires "various categories of work" to be reviewed by Risk Committees or escalated to consider whether "the client has made a public commitment to the transition, and is seen to be developing transition plans" and whether assignments "are designed to influence public policy decision-makers." The company also stipulates that WPP agencies must "nominate a senior manager to manage and oversee trade association relationships" and that it "select[s] organisations with priorities and values aligned with our own." Moreover, WPP confirms a public commitment to conduct its engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. While these elements establish structured oversight and some alignment of both direct lobbying and indirect association memberships, WPP does not disclose a dedicated climate-lobbying review cycle, clear criteria for assessing or exiting trade associations based on climate position, or an explicit ongoing monitoring mechanism focused on climate-specific lobbying alignment. View Sources	C

Overall Assessment

Analysis

Score

Moderate

As part of its Political Activities and Engagement Policy, WPP PLC’s "Group Corporate Affairs Director has responsibility for developing and implementing our political activity policy and public reporting procedures," with local CEOs and CFOs tasked with implementation. Under a revised Assignment Acceptance Policy and Framework, the company requires "various categories of work" to be reviewed by Risk Committees or escalated to consider whether "the client has made a public commitment to the transition, and is seen to be developing transition plans" and whether assignments "are designed to influence public policy decision-makers." The company also stipulates that WPP agencies must "nominate a senior manager to manage and oversee trade association relationships" and that it "select[s] organisations with priorities and values aligned with our own." Moreover, WPP confirms a public commitment to conduct its engagement activities in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. While these elements establish structured oversight and some alignment of both direct lobbying and indirect association memberships, WPP does not disclose a dedicated climate-lobbying review cycle, clear criteria for assessing or exiting trade associations based on climate position, or an explicit ongoing monitoring mechanism focused on climate-specific lobbying alignment.

View Sources

Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Limited	WPP PLC offers only limited insight into its climate-related lobbying. It acknowledges that its public affairs agencies such as BCW, Hill+Knowlton Strategies and FGS Global engage on climate and sustainability matters and that the Group contributes to public consultations, ministerial roundtables and trade-body forums, yet it does not identify the specific government bodies or officials that are the focus of those efforts. The company references broad policy areas—support for the Paris Agreement, participation in the Race to Zero campaign, the application of its Assignment Acceptance Policy to energy clients and involvement in industry platforms like Ad Net Zero—but it stops short of naming any concrete legislation, regulations or bills it has sought to influence. Similarly, WPP states broad intentions such as promoting decarbonisation in the media supply chain and ensuring communications do not frustrate the Paris goals, without spelling out the precise policy changes or measurable outcomes it is pursuing. As a result, although WPP signals that it is active in climate-related public policy debates, the disclosure lacks the specificity needed to understand exactly what it lobbies for, how it carries out that lobbying, and what results it aims to secure.	D