In de Braziliaanse stad Belem is momenteel de internationale klimaattop COP30 gaande. De klimaatcrisis wordt steeds erger en voelbaarder, en klimaatprofessionals vanuit de hele wereld zijn in Belem aanwezig om aanvullende maatregelen te bespreken. En dat betreffen maatregelen die verdere opwarming van de aarde moeten voorkomen, als ook maatregelen die de meest getroffen landen moeten helpen om de gevolgen op te vangen. De top wordt opmerkelijk genoeg bijgewoond door een enorm aantal fossiele lobbyisten.
Ondoorzichtige lobby, gekoppeld aan beïnvloeding van milieubeleid door bedrijven, is een van onze vier weeffouten. Op de klimaattop komt deze pijnlijk aan het licht. Want Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), een van de organisaties achter Platform Weeffouten, bericht dat één op de 25 aanwezigen een lobbyist is uit de fossiele sector. Juist die industrie die verantwoordelijk voor klimaatopwarming is aanwezig om strengere regelgeving te voorkomen en/of bestaande regelgeving af te zwakken.
1.600 fossiele lobbyisten
Een analyse van de Kick Big Polluters Out-coalitie (KBPO), waar CEO ook toebehoort, toont aan dat meer dan 1.600 fossiele lobbyisten toegang kregen tot de klimaattop in Belem. Dit is een stijging van 12% ten opzichte van de vorige COP in Baku, Azerbeidzjan en het grootste aantal fossiele lobbyisten sinds KBPO dit is gaan bijhouden.
Het vervolg van dit artikel is in Engels en komt van de website van Corporate Europe Observatory.
English
The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition analyzed the provisional list of participants at COP30 line-by-line. The findings include:
- Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber official delegates from the Philippines by nearly 50 to 1 – even while the country is being hit by devastating typhoons as the UN climate talks are underway. Fossil fuel lobbyists sent more than 40 times the number of people than Jamaica, which is still reeling from Hurricane Melissa.
- Fossil fuel lobbyists have received two thirds more passes to COP30 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable nations combined (1061), highlighting how industry presence continues to dwarf that of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
- Major trade associations remain a primary vehicle for fossil fuel influence, with the International Emissions Trading Association bringing 60 representatives, including delegates from oil and gas giants ExxonMobil, BP, and TotalEnergies.
- Behind-the-scenes access also remains a major channel for influence, with approximately 599 lobbyists gaining access through Party overflow badges that allow the individuals behind the scenes access to the inner workings of the negotiations.
- Several Global North countries included fossil fuel representatives within their official delegations – France brought 22 fossil fuel delegates, with five from TotalEnergies, including CEO Patrick Pouyanné; Japan’s delegation contained 33 fossil fuel lobbyists, among them Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Osaka Gas; and Norway snuck 17 into the talks, including six senior executives from its national oil and gas giant Equinor.
- Although attendance at COP30 is smaller overall than COP29 in Azerbaijan and COP28 in Dubai, the proportion of fossil fuel lobbyists has increased to nearly 1 in every 25 delegates present in Belem.
Responding to the findings, Kick Big Polluters Out member Jax Bongon from IBON International in the Philippines said: “It’s common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it. Yet three decades and 30 COPs later, more than 1,500 fossil fuel lobbyists are roaming the climate talks as if they belong here. It is infuriating to watch their influence deepen year after year, making a mockery of the process and of the communities suffering its consequences. Just days after devastating floods and supertyphoons in the Philippines, and amid worsening droughts, heatwaves, and displacement across the Global South, we see the very corporations driving this crisis being given a platform to foist the same false ‘solutions’ that sustain their profit motives and undermine any hope of truly addressing the climate emergency. COP30 promises to be an ‘Implementation COP,’ yet it has so far failed to implement even a basic and long-overdue demand of kicking Big Polluters out of a conference meant to address the crisis they created.”
The KBPO findings come as 2025 is set to become one of the hottest years on record, with climate disasters intensifying worldwide and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reaching unprecedented levels. Many of the fossil fuel corporations sending significant numbers of lobbyists to COP30 are also directly enabling the ongoing genocide of Palestine and systemic violence around the world. Despite growing calls for a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, the industry continues to expand operations, with nearly $250 billion approved for new oil and gas projects since COP29.
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