12 hours ago

More Than 1,700 Fossil Fuel Lobbyists at UN Climate Negotiations

At least 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists are attending the U.N. climate negotiations now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to a tally by a coalition of climate groups.

“Fossil fuel corporations and their surrogates shouldn’t have a seat at the negotiating table where climate policy is being made — allowing them that access is like setting the cat loose among the pigeons,” said Kathy Mulvey, a campaigner at the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of more than 450 groups belonging to the coalition.

Every conference attendee must disclose which organization they work for and the nature of their role. Climate groups scoured the provisional list of attendees, identifying those who could “be reasonably assumed” to represent the interests of fossil fuel firms.

The groups found that fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber delegates from every country except Turkey, Brazil, and Azerbaijan. The 1,773 lobbyists also dwarf the number of delegates from countries at greatest risk from warming. The 10 most vulnerable nations, as rated by experts at Notre Dame University, sent a combined 1,033 delegates to the negotiations.

ExxonMobil alone sent as many delegates as Guyana, a small South American country at imminent risk from rising seas. Said Mulvey, “Corporations such as ExxonMobil, which have engaged in a decades-long campaign to deceive the public and policymakers and block or delay climate action, have repeatedly shown that they can’t be trusted as good-faith players in climate policymaking.”