One in 25 participants at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil is tied to the oil and gas sector, the highest concentration of fossil fuel lobbyists so far at the United Nations climate talks. Their presence is driving growing unease over influence, conflicts of interest and the way the negotiations are being shaped.
Kick the Big Polluters Out, a coalition of 450 NGOs, says overall attendance at Cop30 sits at 56,118 as of 10 November – and 1,603 of these attendees have links to the oil and gas industry.
The coalition says that while the total is lower than at some past summits, the concentration inside the talks is at its highest point.
It added that this count has risen sharply since it recorded 500 attendees with fossil fuel ties at the Glasgow summit five years ago. This rise has continued even as pressure builds for a shift away from fossil fuels.
The group of lobbyists in Belém is bigger than almost every national delegation. Brazil is the only country with a larger presence, at 3,805 people. China follows with 674, then Nigeria, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN puts the total of official delegates at 11,991.
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Growing unease
In a letter dated 1 October, 225 organisations urged the Cop30 presidency to stop inviting major polluters into the talks. They wrote that the figures show “the urgency of protecting United Nations climate negotiations by establishing clear conflict of interest policies and accountability measures”.
They added that “big polluters should not have access to climate policy making”.
Allowing industry representatives into negotiations, they argued, lets them “continue to influence and undermine the international response”.
Lobbyists include corporate leaders, technical experts and energy specialists, whose interests can clash with climate goals. Some form groups such as the International Emissions Trading Association, which has a pavilion at the summit.
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Behind closed doors
Blue zone accreditation gives observers – including environmental NGOs, youth groups, women’s rights organisations and unions – access to negotiation rooms.
States can close meetings to observers, but special party overflow badges allow some people to remain without speaking rights. At least 600 lobbyists hold this badge.
The influence of fossil lobbyists often outweighs that of NGOs due to economic weight, Fanny Petitbon, from the climate campaign group 350.org, told RFI – adding that NGOs defend the public good while lobbyists defend economic interests.
This pressure has contributed to a long-running taboo around fossil fuels in UN climate talks, she said. “It makes no more sense than inviting the tobacco industry to a conference on fighting cancer.”
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Banks in the mix
Japan has 33 lobbyists on site, including members of Osaka Gas. Norway has 17, including six from Equinor. France’s delegation of 449 includes at least 22 people linked to the sector, including five TotalEnergies executives. They include chief executive Patrick Pouyanné.
TotalEnergies was found guilty two weeks ago by a French court of misleading commercial practices, over claims it could reach carbon neutrality by 2050 while increasing oil and gas production.
The list of accredited people consulted by RFI also includes representatives from banks BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole. Both rank among the top 30 financiers of fossil projects.
The annual Banking on Climate Chaos report said in June that the world’s 65 largest banks provided $869 billion of funding to fossil fuels in 2024, a rise of 23 percent.
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Disclosure fight
In a statement, Kick the Big Polluters Out said it counts as lobbyists delegates who can reasonably be assumed to seek influence over policy in the interests of the fossil industry or its shareholders.
It also included financial institutions that have provided major support to fossil firms since the Paris Agreement.
The coalition said it had secured a new rule this year requiring all registered participants at Cop30 to declare any potential conflict of interest. They must state who funds their participation, whom they work for, the nature of their link, their role and their actor group.
This rule does not apply to state delegation badges.
“It is clear we cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it,” said Jax Bongon from IBON International in the Philippines, which has recently been hit by two typhoons. “Yet 30 years and 30 Cop summits later, more than 1,500 fossil fuel lobbyists walk through the climate negotiations as if nothing had happened."
He added: "It is exasperating to see their influence grow year after year, making a mockery of the process, and the communities that suffer the consequences.”
This article was adapted from the original version in French by RFI's Géraud Bosman-Delzons
