More than 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists gained access to UN climate summits over the past four years, a period marked by a rise in catastrophic extreme weather events, insufficient climate action, and a record expansion in oil and gas production, a new research study reveals.
And decompose the study The presence of fossil fuel lobbyists known to attend the negotiations in Glasgow (COP26), Sharm El-Sheikh (COP27), Dubai (COP28), and Baku (COP29).
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According to the study, published by the British newspaper The Guardian, pressure groups representing the interests of the oil, gas and coal industries, which bear the greatest responsibility for climate breakdown according to the study, have been allowed to participate in the annual climate negotiations, where countries are supposed to come in good faith and commit to ambitious policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
The study revealed that the nearly 5,350 lobbyists who mingled with world leaders and climate negotiators in recent years worked for at least 859 fossil fuel organizations, including trade groups and foundations, and 180 oil, gas and coal companies involved in every part of the supply chain from exploration and production to distribution and equipment.
According to the analysis conducted by the organization (kick big polluters out) is a coalition of 450 organizations working to prevent the fossil fuel industry from obstructing and delaying global climate action. Just 90 of the fossil fuel companies that sent lobbyists to climate talks between 2021 and 2024 were responsible for more than half (57%) of all oil and gas produced last year.
These companies, which include many of the world’s most profitable private and public oil and gas companies, represent a production of 33,699 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2024, enough to cover more than the entire area of Spain with a centimeter-thick layer of oil.
The same 90 companies also represent about 63% of all short-term expansion projects in the field of fossil fuels, which are preparing for exploration and production, according to figures andRecent data It includes more than 1,700 companies covering more than 90% of global oil and gas activity.
If these expansion projects are implemented, these companies will produce enough oil to cover two million and 623 square kilometers with a thickness of one centimeter, which includes the entire area of 7 European countries: France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway combined.
Corporate interests and the planet
The findings have led to renewed calls to ban fossil fuel companies and other big polluters from participating in annual climate negotiations, amid growing scientific evidence that the world is failing to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
“This information clearly reveals the corporate control of the global climate process,” Adelson Vieira, spokesman for the Amazon Action Group, told the Guardian. “The space that should have been reserved for science and people has been transformed into a huge carbon hall.”
“As forest communities struggle to survive, the same companies causing climate breakdown are buying credentials and political influence to continue expanding their fossil empires,” he added.
For her part, Brenna Yellowthander, lead coordinator of the Indigenous Environmental Network and a member of KBPO, says that indigenous people are also under the brunt of climate chaos on our lands, with worsening floods, forest fires and extreme heat waves. We must remove the For Sale sign from Mother Earth and ban oil and gas lobbyists from the COPs.
Growing anger at the lack of meaningful action by the world’s richest and most polluting countries has been exacerbated by revelations that the fossil fuel industry appears to have had greater access to climate talks than most countries.
Last year in Baku, 1,773 registered fossil fuel lobbyists attended the summit in Azerbaijan, 70% more than the total number of delegates from The ten countries most vulnerable to climate change Combined, that amounts to 1,033 delegates.
But the true scope of fossil fuel tentacles is undoubtedly deeper, with lobbyist statements excluding CEOs and other corporate representatives on official delegations of countries directly involved in the secret negotiations, and those who attend as guests of governments, known as superfluous delegates.
The largest number of well-known lobbyists in recent years have represented state-owned companies from the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Azerbaijan.
Many of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies were also present at recent COP summits, at a time when governments have faced enormous public pressure – but failed – to agree to phase out fossil fuels despite deadly climate impacts affecting every corner of the planet.
Between 2021 and 2024, Shell sent a total of 37 lobbyists, BP sent 36 delegates, Exxon Mobil 32 delegates, and Chevron 20 delegates. Over the past five years, achieved The four major oil companies have combined profits exceeding $420 billion.
Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon, participated in the COP 30 launch event in Brasilia, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce under the title “Pragmatic Business Solutions for Carbon Accounting and Emission Reduction.” The United States, like other countries, withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreements and did not send a national delegation to the summit.
Petrobras, the mostly state-owned Brazilian multinational that has sent at least 28 lobbyists to the past four climate summits, recently received a license to conduct exploratory oil drilling in the sea off the Amazon, which is home to many indigenous communities and about 10% of the planet’s known species.
A company spokesman said: “Petrobras will be present at COP30, as it was present at previous talks, because it recognizes the opportunity to discuss sustainable models. The company’s participation in COP30 reinforces its commitment to following up on and contributing to international discussions on climate and energy.”
Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Chevron did not respond to requests for comment.
Counter pressures
After years of campaigning by civil society organisations, delegates to this year’s Conference of the Parties are being asked to publicly disclose who is funding their participation, and to ensure that their objectives are consistent with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
However, the new transparency requirement excludes anyone from official government delegations or additional delegations, and calls for… Tighter conflict of interest protections To limit the influence of the industrial sector did not receive an adequate response, according to their rights defenders.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the UN climate change agency said: “The Secretariat has taken concrete steps in 2023, and again this year, to enhance the transparency of COP participants.”
He added that no single party conference is expected to solve the climate crisis overnight. Achieving further improvements is an ongoing journey that we will continue to support, bearing in mind that only national governments have the power to determine the members of their delegations.
In this context, Muhammad Saraf, Executive Director of the Palestinian Climate Strategy Institute, said, “The new rules are a welcome start, but they come decades late, and transparency without exclusion is just a charade. It is not possible to claim to reform a process that has already been taken over by the same companies that are burning the planet and fueling wars.”
He added that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must move from disclosure to exclusion. Without reform, this process will not save the world, but rather will contribute to burying it, as he put it.