Defeating its purpose? Fossil fuel lobbyists accompany European governments to COP29

Copyright AP Photo

Gregoire Lory
Published on 18/11/2024 -

According to a coalition of NGOs, the European Union's national delegations brought more than a hundred fossil fuel representatives with them to Baku for the UN climate conference.

Representatives of the fossil fuel sector have a strong presence at COP29.

According to a report by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, a body of 450 NGOs, up to 1,773 lobbyists travelled to Baku for the United Nations climate conference.

What's even more head-scratching is that 113 of them were accompanying various European national government delegations.

"Greece led the way with 24, while Italy had 22," explained Marcella Via of Corporate Europe Observatory, a member of the coalition, followed by Sweden (17) and Belgium (13).

She adds that "Greece and Italy are the countries that buy the most gas from Azerbaijan. It is therefore not surprising that they have so many fossil fuel lobbyists." Euronews contacted both countries but has yet to receive any comment.

Rome and Athens are counting on the southern European gas corridor linking Azerbaijan to Europe via Turkey. This pipeline could be extended to carry gas from the Middle East, Central Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. If completed, it should be able to transport at least 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year.

Civil society is also denouncing the conclusion of trade agreements at COP29. The report mentions an agreement as early as the second day of the conference between Italgas and SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic), Azerbaijan's national oil and gas company.

On the other hand, however, the report also points out that the European Commission did not include any lobbyists from the sector in its delegation, unlike last year in Dubai.

At his hearing in early November, the European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoestra "received increasing pressure from civil society not to bring in any fossil fuel lobbyists," Marcella Via points out.

Also at his hearing before the MEPs, Hoestra said that "he would support the policy on the fight against conflict of interest at United Nations climate negotiations. And we really, really hope that he will keep his word," she continued.

A large delegation

The 1,773 lobbyists that have travelled to Azerbaijan's capital represent companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Eni and TotalEnergies.

Though there were fewer than last year's 2,500 total at COP28, the NGOs point out that the lower overall number of participants in Baku compared to Dubai in 2023 means that the proportion of lobbyists has remained high.

The NGO coalition points out that lobbyists outnumber the number of attendees from the national delegations present in Baku, with the only exceptions being host country Azerbaijan, Brazil - who will be the host next year - and Turkey.

Fossil fuel lobbyists received more passes to COP29 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined.