There are 636 lobbyists from the oil and gas industries registered to attend the UN event in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In Glasgow, the number was 503, more than any single country represented. This year, the only country with a larger delegation is the United Arab Emirates, host of next year’s Cop28, which has 1,070 registered delegates, up from 176 last year. At Cop27, “the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists is greater than frontline countries and communities. Delegations from African countries and indigenous communities are overshadowed by representatives of corporate interests,” said the group Kick Big Polluters out, which campaigns against the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists in climate negotiations. Figures on lobbyists, compiled by Corporate Accountability, Global Witness and Corporate Europe Observatory, show the growing influence of oil and gas interests in climate talks. While many environmental groups hoping to encourage a transition away from fossil fuels say it can be beneficial to bring private interests to the negotiating table, those benefits risk being offset by the sheer size of the delegations and suspicions that lobbyists are attending the talks to slow down progress rather than discuss the curtailment of their own industries. Civil society groups fear the growing presence of fossil fuel lobbyists risks derailing negotiations at a crucial time amid efforts to keep global temperature rises within the 1.5C of warming scientists agree is needed to prevent of catastrophic climate change. “The explosion in the number of industry representatives attending the negotiations reinforces the climate justice community’s belief that the industry is treating the cop as a carnival rather than a space to address the ongoing and looming climate crisis,” said Kwami Kpondzo of Friends of the Earth Togo. Climate carnage: whose job is it to save the planet? – documentary In a recent submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the body that oversees the UNFCCC – to discuss the role of private business in the talks, a coalition of civil society groups said climate action would “continue fails to effectively address the climate crisis, as polluting interests have unfettered access to policy-making processes and are allowed to unduly influence and undermine the critical work of the UNFCCC.” The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In response, the United States Council on International Business rejected any suggestion that there should be limits on corporate interests in climate talks, saying it would “damage and delay implementation [and] they marginalize one of the most central constituencies in the UNFCCC process.”
