LETTER: 225+ Organizations demand COP30 center people, not polluters

LETTER: 225+ Organizations demand COP30 center people, not polluters

Kick Big Polluters Out, don’t invite them to the COP30 table!

In his 7th letter to the international community, the COP30 President Designate places the private sector center stage, calling “on all business leaders to join the world in Belém.” Inviting corporations to the table – even going as far as to name climate action “the Defining Business Opportunity of Our Time” – without explicitly protecting against the inevitable risks of greenwashing and conflict-of-interest is a dangerous oversight that could further erode the credibility and effectiveness of the UN climate process.

For decades, corporate interests – particularly from the fossil fuel and other big polluting industries – have sabotaged climate progress through aggressive lobbying, disinformation, and glossy PR campaigns. From sponsorship deals to branded pavilions, the halls of COP have become marketing playgrounds for the very industries driving the crisis. The industry’s grip on climate talks is not subtle, it’s systemic. Recent COP Presidencies have placed fossil fuel insiders in positions of power and this year, the COP30 team has made a deal with a PR company that is simultaneously promoting the interests of major oil and gas companies. This comes at a time when civil society and Indigenous Peoples are consistently facing barriers to their meaningful participation in the climate negotiations, including COP30.

Amid the growing recognition of the need to push back against this blatant corporate capture of the climate talks, the COP30 President Designate’s statement that “businesses can show the world what climate leadership looks like” feels removed from the reality that polluting businesses, and their enablers, are directly responsible for the climate crisis. Furthermore, actively promoting the halls of climate action as “the world’s largest marketplace of transformational climate solutions” risks reducing COP30 to a stage for climate posturing by some of the very actors responsible for the greatest share of global greenhouse gas emissions, not real and equitable progress. Many of these actors are also responsible for harm inflicted upon Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and ecosystems.

This stands in stark contrast with the COP30 President Designate’s earlier letters and overarching priorities, which signal a desire to reinforce multilateralism and strengthen global climate governance. On that, we agree. Halfway through this critical decade, it is increasingly urgent for the climate talks to actually deliver the ambition needed, including phasing out fossil fuels and other emissions-intensive industries like industrial agriculture–not inviting them to the table. Earlier this year in Bonn, over 200 organizations issued a joint call to reform the UN Climate Talks. And that includes ending the corporate trade show and protecting these talks from corporate capture.

The organizers of COP30 should be ending the ability of polluters to write the rules of climate action and bankroll the climate talks, not handing them the keys to the halls of climate action. Such a step is long overdue. Despite the urgency of the crisis and in contrast to an abundance of global precedents to draw from, the UNFCCC has no meaningful measures in place to ensure its policymaking is not undermined by private, vested interests that go against the goals of the very agreement itself. It does not even have an agreed definition of what a “conflict of interest” is, let alone any measures on how to address one. Though sustained organizing from civil society and rights-based constituencies has led to strengthened transparency requirements beginning with COP30, transparency is a far cry from accountability. This makes the UNFCCC the exception, not the norm, when it comes to good governance.

If COP30 is to truly restore the credibility of the climate talks and guarantee good standards of climate governance, its Presidency must make clear that unchecked corporate influence is not compatible with climate leadership. The COP30 President, all Parties, and the UNFCCC Secretariat must prioritize the establishment of a strong Accountability Framework to protect against corporate interference and those with vested interests, especially from fossil fuel and high-emitting industries. The COP30 Presidency can make this happen by socializing the need to address corporate capture as a priority in its bigger reform agenda, and through leading by example, including by:

Committing to a polluter-free COP with no corporate sponsorship of polluting corporations, and no promotion of polluting corporations.
Committing to a polluter-free Presidency where those with close ties to or affiliations with polluters have no role in the leadership of the climate talks. This includes ending the Presidency’s partnership with Edelman, a PR firm that actively has fossil fuel clientele.
Committing to advance an Accountability Framework that ensures that COP30, and all future COPs, are protected against the polluting industries that have a decades-long history of actively undermining climate action.
Committing to take action that protects against the commodification of nature, rather than auction it up as a business opportunity. Protect the Amazon rainforest from threats of exploration and exploitation. Fossil fuels must be left in the ground.

As the COP30 Presidency has so clearly said, “Now is the moment for action.” We must recognize that the potential for action is strangled when the very actors that have caused the climate crisis are being invited to the table of climate action. And we must urgently ensure that COP30 is a global convening where meaningful, equitable climate action can be spurred and truly take hold.

Endorsed by the following 225+ organizations and networks:

350.org
7 Directions of Service
Abibinsroma Foundation
Abu Ghosoun Community Development Association
ABUDHABI ENVIRONMENT NETWORK
Accion Ecologica
Action Solidarité Tiers Monde (ASTM)
ActionAid Denmark
ActionAid International
Adéquations
African Coalition on Green Growth
African Biodiversity Alliance
African Center for Health, Climate, and Gender Justice Alliance (ACHCGA)
African Women Leaders Network Ghana
Agricultural Development Association (PARC – Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees)
Amis de la Terre France / Friends of the Earth France
Amnesty International
Arab States CSOs & Feminist Network
Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders
Asociacion Ciudadana por los Derechos Humanos
Association des Volontaires pour l'Environnement Sain
Association du Développement et de la Promotion des Droits de l’Homme
Association for Farmers Rights Defense, AFRD (ფერმერთა უფლებების დაცვის ასოციაცია)
Association of Women of Southern Europe AFEM
Attac Austria
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC)
Beranda Perempuan Indonesia
Better Brazoria:Clean Air & Water
Bio Vision Africa (BiVA)
Biofuelwatch
BUNDjugend (Young Friends of the Earth Germany)
CADIRE CAMEROON ASSOCIATION
CAN Eastern Africa
CAN Europe
CAN Latin America (CANLA)
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Center for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC)
Centre for Economic and Social Rights
Centre pour la Justice Environnementale-Togo
Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
Christian Aid Ireland
Climalab
Climate Action for Lifelong Learners
Climate Action Network - Réseau action climat Canada
Climate Action Network (CAN) Africa
Climate Action Network (CAN) Zambia
Climate Action Network International (CAN-I)
Climate Action Network Southeast Asia (CANSEA)
Climate Action Network Zimbabwe
Climate Action Newtork (CAN) Africa
Climate Clock DRC
Climate Integrity
Climate Justice & Just Transition Collaborative
Climate Justice Coalition, Turkey
Climate Rights International
ClimateFast
CNCD-11.11.11
Co-ordination Office of the Austrian Bishops' Conference for International Development and Mission (KOO)
Coalition Climat - Klimaat Coalitie
Coalition des Volontaires pour la Paix et le Développement, CVPD
Colectivo CASA - Bolivia
Colectivo VientoSur
Colectivo Voces Ecológicas COVEC
COMITÉ AMBIENTAL EN DEFENSA DE LA VIDA
Common Weal
Community Work Ireland
Conectas Direitos Humanos
Conexiones Climáticas
Consumers' Association of Penang
Corporate Accountability
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA)
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
CREDDHO
Debt Justice UK
Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG)
Deutsche Umwelthilfe
Development Initiative for Community Impact -DICI
DISABILITY PEOPLES FORUM UGANDA
Disability Rights Fund
Dogwood Alliance
Dominicans for Justice and Peace
Earth Ethics, Inc.
Ecojustice Ireland
ECOLISE
Egyptian Foundation for Environmental Rights -EFER
EJAtlas.org
EKOenergy ecolabel
Enginyeria sense Fronteres
Environmental Defender Law Center
Equal Right
Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
European Coordination Via Campesina - ECVC
FASE - Solidariedade e Educação
FBOMS - Forum Brasileiro de ONGs e Mov. Sociais para Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento
Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN)
FIAN International
FIFEF
FIMA NGO
Focus, Association for Sustainable Development
Forum for Development and Environment
Fossil Free Politics
Foundation for the Conservation of the Earth FOCONE
Foundation Institute for Sustainable Development
Fracking Free Clare
Franciscans International
Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Friends of the Earth Australia
Friends of the Earth Europe
Friends of the Earth International
Friends of the Earth Ireland
Friends of the Earth Malta
Friends of the Earth US
Fuel Poverty Action
Fundação Esquel Brasil
Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo
Fundación Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer
Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) - ENGO DCJ Constituency
Global Climate and Health Alliance
Global Forest Coalition
Global Justice Ecology Project
Global Justice Now
Global Platforms Network
Global Witness
Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet (GASP)
Green Africa Network
Green Scenery
Habitat Defenders Africa (HDA)
Hawkmoth
Heinrich Boell Foundation Washington, DC
HelpAge International
HomeBased Workers Concern Society Nepal
IBON International
Indian Social Action Forum
Indigenous Environmental Network
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Institute for Policy Studies Climate Policy Program
International Network for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net)
International Society for Health and Human Rights
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - IWGIA
Italian Climate Network
Jubilee Australia Research Centre
Just Transition Alliance
KRuHA
La Ruta del Clima
Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO)
LEGAMBIENTE
LINGO e.V.
Linha Vermelha / Red Line
Living Laudato Si' Philippines
Manushya Foundation
MenaFem Movement for Economic Development and Ecological Justice
Milieudefensie / Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Mothers Rise Up
Mouvement Ecologique (Luxembourg)
Movement For Education And Advocacy Network Salone
Movimiento Unificado Francisco Sánchez 1932 MUFRAS - 32
Natural Justice
Natural Resource Women Platform
Newark Water Coalition
NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Oceania Pride
Oil Change International
Oilfield Witness
Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
Palestinian Institute for Climate Strategy (PICS)
Pax Christi Toronto
Plant-for-the-Planet
Polish Ecological Club Mazovian Branch
Polish Green Network
Protect for Sustainable Solutions
Que Paguen Los Contaminadores América Latina
Reacción Climática-Bolivia
ReCommon
Rede de Trabalho Amazônico - GTA
Rede Vozes Negras pelo Clima/ RVNPC
RENAMAT - Bolivia
Resilient40
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)
Seniors for Climate Action Now - Ottawa
SFBSP
Shifting Advocacy
Sinatsisa Lubombo Women and girls Empowerment organization
SOMO
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
Stand.earth
Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA
Sustainable Strategic Solutions
TDJ-BURUNDU
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID)
The ChariTree Foundation
The Green Connection
The Syrian Legal Development Programme
Third World Network
Transparency International
Trend Asia
Trócaire
Tulele Peisa Inc
Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development / East African SusWatch Network
Uganda Eyenkya Development Project Group
Union of Ecology-Turketiy
Urgewald
US Climate Action Network
Utrasd
VIVAT International
War on Want
We, The World Botswana
WhatNext?
Wlipf Canada
Women for Justice and equality
Women Humenterian Organization
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Workshop for AllBeings
World Animal Protection
World Friends for Africa Burkina Faso
World's Youth for Climate Justice (WYCJ)
YOUNGO Conflict of Interest Working Group
Youth Association for Development (YAD) Pakistan
Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network (YARN)
ZERO - Association for the Sustainability of the Earth System (Portugal)
Zero Hour