COP29: Oil and Gas Company Delegates Outnumber Social Activists
Protest against big corporations at COP29, Nov. 15, 2024. X/ @FoEint
November 15, 2024 Hour: 12:10 pm
While 1,773 lobbyists represent corporations, only 1,033 people speak on behalf of the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations.
On Friday, the environmental group “Kick Big Polluters Out” denounced that the COP29 conference in Baku hosts 1,773 representatives from fossil fuel companies. This number exceeds the delegations of the most vulnerable countries and the staff of nearly all states present at the UN climate conference.
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“The 1,773 lobbyists registered in Baku are surpassed only by the delegations of Azerbaijan (2,229), Brazil (1,914), and Turkey (1,862),” said Kick Big Polluters Out, noting that the same situation occurred during COP28 in Dubai in 2023.
Representatives from fossil fuel companies outnumber all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined (1,033), highlighting how industry presence overshadows those on the frontlines of the climate crisis, added the environmental platform.
At COP28 in Dubai, for the first time, attendees were required to disclose whom they represent, “exposing many lobbyists who likely attended covertly in previous years.”
Most of the accredited fossil delegates come from wealthy countries, representing companies such as like the French oil giant TotalEnergies, the Italian gas company Eni, or the Japanese coal company Sumitomo. Major fossil energy corporations such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell are also represented.
“The control of fossil fuel lobbyists over climate negotiations is like a venomous snake coiling around the future of our planet. We must expose their deception, remove them from these discussions, and hold them accountable for their violations against Earth,” said Nnimmo Bassey, head of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
On Friday, a group of scientists and experts, including former UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon, former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, and renowned scientist Johan Rockström, called for a fundamental reform of UN conferences in an open letter. Among other recommendations, they demanded that climate summits ensure “equitable representation” and criticized that during the last edition, COP28 in Dubai —also held in a gas-rich country like the United Arab Emirates— 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were accredited.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
