Four times as many fossil fuel lobbyists are attending the world climate conference in Dubai as a year ago, activists say. They complain about the influence of the energy companies.
According to activists, at least 2,456 lobbyists for coal, oil and gas are officially accredited at the World Climate Conference in Dubai. That is four times more than at the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last year. This is the result of a data analysis by the “Kick Big Polluters Out” alliance, which is supported by Greenpeace, Transparency International, Global Witness and the Climate Action Network, among others.
A total of 97,000 participants
The activists pointed out that the industry representatives had received more accreditations 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 provided just 1,509 delegates.
Overall, the UN says it registered a record number of around 97,000 participants for the two-week meeting in the United Arab Emirates, almost twice as many as last year in Egypt.
Continued massive investments in fossil energy
“The toxic presence of the big polluters has distracted us for years and prevented us from finding ways to keep fossil fuels in the ground,” complained Alexia Leclercq from the Start:Empowerment initiative. Nobody believes that Shell, Chevron or ExxonMobil sent their lobbyists to Dubai just to passively observe the conference.
The fossil fuel industry and its supporters in many governments continue to invest billions in climate-damaging businesses, with disastrous consequences for people and the planet, said David Tong of Oil Change International. It is therefore clear to him: “Lobbyists for coal, gas and oil must be kicked out of COP28.”
“Fossil industry is a huge power factor”
The leading German climate researcher Ottmar Edenhofer was not surprised by the influence of fossil lobbyists at the climate conference. “We have to leave the majority of fossil resources and reserves of coal, oil and gas in the ground, which essentially means that the assets of oil, coal and gas are devalued,” said the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “The fact that this won’t just be accepted, but that they will then try to defend themselves against it – that was to be expected.”
The impact would also be great if the conference were smaller, said the climate economist, who is particularly calling for higher CO2 prices in order to make climate-damaging energy sources unprofitable. “The fossil fuel industry is a huge power factor and a huge economic factor. That’s obvious.”