A recent study reveals that over 5,000 fossil fuel lobbyists attended the United Nations climate change summits from 2021 to 2024, coinciding with increased extreme weather events and inadequate climate action. The investigation found that 5,350 lobbyists, affiliated with at least 859 fossil fuel organizations, engaged with climate negotiators. Notably, 90 of these companies accounted for over half of the global oil and gas production last year and are responsible for 63% of fossil fuel expansion projects.
With the upcoming COP30 in Brazil, there are renewed calls to exclude fossil fuel lobbyists from climate negotiations. Critics argue that allowing these interests to participate undermines the integrity of the climate action dialogue. Indigenous communities are particularly affected by the negative impacts of climate change and resource extraction, urging for reforms to limit corporate influence in climate talks.
Despite increased scrutiny, fossil fuel companies like Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil continue to be present at these summits, highlighting a significant imbalance in the representation of interests. There’s growing frustration among civil society groups about the insufficient conflict of interest protections for lobbyists and the continued dominance of the fossil fuel industry in climate negotiations.
The UN has begun implementing transparency measures for lobbyists but critics insist that mere transparency is not enough; they demand exclusion of fossil fuel interests to restore credibility to the climate agreements.
Source link
