The climate conference is intended to seal the phase-out of coal, oil and gas. But an analysis shows that many accreditations are extremely questionable.
Dubai – The UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) has been extended. The approximately 200 participating states were initially unable to agree on the first, previously published draft of the final declaration. The core contentious issue: The global exit from fossil fuels. Both the EU and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock rejected the draft. Current information and updates can be found on our live ticker for COP28.
Recently, the fact that more than 2,500 lobbyists for coal, oil and gas were accredited at the World Climate Conference caused a stir. This led to corresponding protests. New outrage now arose Guardian-Report on an analysis by the transparency organization “Corporate Accountability”. At least 166 groups and individuals with a history of obstructing fossil fuel regulations and other climate protection measures were admitted to the conference. “Corporate Accountability” refers to data that comes from the official UN delegate lists. The number of unreported cases is probably very large because the organization only included the most prominent actors in its analysis.
Official UN delegate lists show: 166 companies with a fossil past at COP28
David Tong, global campaign manager at Oil Change International, expressed anger at the results of the analysis: “It is obscene that organizations that do this climate deny and that the PR agencies of fossil fuel companies are welcome in these negotiations to interpret something differently, to lie and to distort.” It is simply embarrassing that “they are allowed to register for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.”
Below is a small list of the delegations of the five largest companies that have been admitted to COP28 despite their past:
- American Petroleum Institute (API): Among the biggest climate-blocking companies at COP28 is this fossil fuel trade group. API has been trying for years to block the passage of national laws limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The institute owns shares in “Energy Citizens,” a front organization that has coordinated climate-denying campaigns for fossil fuels in the past.
- Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI): The US think tank is also represented at COP28. Myron Ebell, the former CEI director of energy and environment, was largely responsible for the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the Trump administration. Ebell is not personally in Dubai but was accredited to several previous COPs, according to UN delegate lists.
- Edison Electric Institute (EEI): This is a trade group for private electricity companies in the USA that spread climate-denying statements as early as the 1990s.
- Consulting firm FTI Consulting: FTI Consulting's customers include large fossil fuel corporations such as ExxonMobil, Eurogas as well as Hydrogen Europe and the Hydrogen Council. According to the Climate Investigations Center, FTI has a history of setting up fake news outlets, posing as reporters, and writing negative stories about climate researchers and activist groups.
- British company WPP: UK-based WPP has more than 50 contracts with fossil fuel companies through its holding companies. Additionally, WPP appears to have run campaigns for most major oil and gas companies. Four WPP clients (BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies) accounted for nearly 98% of all fossil greenwashing and disinformation ads on Facebook from January to October 2023, according to research.
- PR agency Edelman: The PR agency has also sent an official delegation to Dubai. The PR giant and its subsidiaries have supported PR campaigns to block climate legislation in the past. Internal documents obtained by Greenpeace suggest that Edelman was behind a campaign that created the illusion of public support for a major oil pipeline.
COP 28: “Serious threat to the integrity of global climate policy”
Harjeet Singh, head of global policy strategy at Climate Action Network International, concluded with a warning: “We have lost three crucial decades of action since the landmark 1992 climate convention, largely due to the pervasive influence of climate deniers and fossil fuel lobbyists. Their continued engagement poses a serious threat to the integrity of global climate policy.” (soru)
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