BAKU: Over 1,700 fossil fuel — oil, gas and coal — “lobbyists” have been granted access to COP29, and their number is more than almost every country-delegation at the UN climate conference here, according to an analysis released on Friday. Data showed that fossil fuel lobbyists with 1,773 registered participants are only outnumbered by delegations of three countries — host Azerbaijan (2,229), COP30 host Brazil (1,914), and Türkiye (1,862).
The list of lobbyists include 24 from India as well. Among Indians, most (17) came as a delegation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), three from CII and the remaining four representing different NGOs.
The list of Indians also shows the name of a senior functionary, Pravin Dongre (executive director) from public sector oil company, Indian Oil Corporation. The list, accessed by TOI, mentioned him as nominated by an NGO, Griha Council, as its guest. Dongre, however, told TOI that he is here to promote global biofuel alliance. He, however, did not have a clear answer as to why he was in the list as NGO’s guest.
The analysis of the list of participants was done by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which is a coalition of more than 450 organisations across the globe united in demanding an end to the ability of big polluters to write the rules of climate action.
“The fossil fuel lobby’s grip on climate negotiations is like a venomous snake coiling around the very future of our planet. We must expose their deceit and take decisive action to remove their influence and make them pay for their infractions towards our planet. It’s time to prioritise the voices of those who have been fighting for justice and sustainability, not the interests of polluters,” said KBPO member Nnimmo Bassey from Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
Though the number of total fossil fuel lobbyists this year is less than last year (COP28 in Dubai), the analysis underlines that they have, in fact, received more passes to COP29 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable nations combined (1,033), underscoring how industry presence is dwarfing that of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The top 10 most climate vulnerable nations with delegations at COP29 are: Chad, Solomon Islands, Niger, Micronesia, GuineaBissau, Somalia, Tonga, Eritrea, Sudan and Mali.
A vast number of fossil fuel “lobbyists” were granted access to the COP as part of a trade association. India’s FICCI with 17 members is at number three after the International Emissions Trading Association (43 delegates) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (27) in the list of top ten biggest trade associations in attendance representing the fossil fuel industry. Analysis shows that eight of the top 10 trade groups with the most lobbyists came from the Global North.
“Japan brought coal giant Sumitomo as part of its delegation; Canada bought oil producers Suncor and Tourmaline; the United Kingdom brought 20 lobbyists; and Italy brought employees of energy giants Eni and Enel. Chevron, ExxonMobil, bp, Shell and Eni, which brought a combined total of 39 lobbyists, are also linked to enabling genocide in Palestine by fueling Israel’s war machine,” said the KBPO in a statement.
Its last year’s analysis showed that an historic high of more than 2,450 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, up from 636 the year before that in Egypt. “Despite the overall number of participants this year (52,305) being significantly less than the 97,372 last year in Dubai, the fossil fuel industry still appears to have descended on Baku in extraordinary numbers,” said the KBPO.
“These numbers are only what we can see, based on available information. The networks of influence of some powerful, and most of the time corrupt, groups reach much beyond. We need to do better in terms of disclosure around who participates at COP. We see there is still more than 20% of participants on national delegations who are allowed not to disclose. We can’t let dirty interests hide and conflicts of interest capture COPs anymore if we want to restore trust in the global climate decision making forum and see some success in the fight against the climate crisis,” said Brice Böhmer from Transparency International.