COP28
Numerous oil, gas and coal lobbyists at climate conference
According to an analysis, more than 2,450 oil, gas and coal lobbyists are taking part in the UN climate conference. photo
© Rafiq Maqbool/AP
It is a reality that lobbyists for coal, oil and gas are accredited at the World Climate Conference. Not everyone finds that completely normal.
The evaluation was published today by the “Kick Big Polluters Out” coalition, which is supported by Global Witness, Transparency International, Greenpeace and the Climate Action Network, among others. Publicly available data from the UN Climate Secretariat UNFCCC were evaluated.
According to the analysis, the lobbyists received more access passes than all delegations from the ten countries most vulnerable to global warming. Somalia, Chad, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, Micronesia, Tonga, Eritrea as well as Sudan, Liberia and the Solomon Islands together only have 1,509 delegates.
Criticism of participation
David Tong of Oil Change International denounced that the fossil fuel industry and its supporters in many governments continue to invest billions in climate-damaging deals – with disastrous consequences for people and the planet. It is therefore clear to him: “Lobbyists for coal, gas and oil must be kicked out of COP28.”
Alexia Leclercq from the Start:Empowerment initiative said no one seriously believed that Shell, Chevron or ExxonMobil sent their lobbyists to Dubai just to passively observe the conference. “The toxic presence of big polluters has distracted us for years and prevented us from finding ways to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”
The initiative also pointed out that there were around eight times as many fossil lobbyists at the conference of almost 200 states as official representatives of indigenous communities (316).
Overall, the UN says it registered a record number of around 97,000 participants for the two-week meeting in the United Arab Emirates. According to the analysis, there were 636 coal, oil and gas lobbyists in Sharm el-Sheikh last year and 503 in Glasgow in 2021.
“Poisoning of the process must be stopped”
According to the announcement, France has accredited representatives of the TotalEnergies and EDF companies as part of the delegation, and Italy is doing the same with ENI. And the European Union has employees from BP, ENI and ExxonMobil with them.
Joseph Sikulu of the Pacific environmental organization 350.org said: “We come here to fight for our survival – what chance do we have if our voices are stifled by the influence of big polluters? This poisoning of the process must end. “
Only delegates who openly disclosed their connections to interests in the fossil fuel sector were counted for the evaluation. For comparison, the authors relied exclusively on public sources such as company websites, media reports or databases such as InfluenceMap.