RELEASE: Big Polluters at the COP31 climate talks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2026

Contacts: kbpo@demandclimatejustice.org, comms@demandclimatejustice.org

Big Polluters with most egregious records of stalling climate policy bring over 100 delegations to COP31 global climate talks

Summit attendees also include financiers representing more than $2.2 trillion in fossil fuel money

ANTALYA, TÜRKIYE – New analysis released today by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition reveals the notable presence – and more importantly influence – of major Big Polluters that have been granted access to attend the COP31 UN climate talks currently happening in Antalya November 9-20.

KBPO analyzed the COP31 provisional list of participants and found that more than 100 Big Polluter corporations and industry associations have delegations at COP31– including from fossil fuel, Big Tech, industrial agriculture, and food industries. Importantly, all of these groups have demonstrated track records of being notably misaligned with or obstructing climate policy – according to InfluenceMap Lobby scores – indicating they can be a threat to the strong climate action COP31 must urgently deliver. Further analysis shows that 30 of the top 100 banks that fund fossil fuels are also at COP31, collectively representing more than $2.2 trillion in fossil fuel financing from 2021-2025 (nearly 40% of fossil fuel bank financing worldwide), as recorded in the Banking on Climate Chaos+ database.

The findings tell a story of what influences may be shaping outcomes at COP31, amidst a backdrop of horrendous climate disasters, all made worse by the polluting activities and interference of Big Polluters and those that represent them. The research helps illustrate the danger of the lack of protections against unchecked polluter interference in climate policymaking – something the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been criticized for failing to address over the past three decades.

KBPO found:

In total, 103 Big Polluter groups were admitted to COP31 despite all having particularly egregious obstructive lobbying track records or engagement notably misaligned with strong climate action.
Combined, these Big Polluter delegations with the most egregious records of blocking climate action outnumbered the delegations of some of the world’s most climate vulnerable nations. Specifically, they outnumber Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 100 to 1, Niger 25 to 1, Philippines 8 to 1, and Nepal 6 to 1.
These egregious Big Polluter delegations include those from 60 fossil fuel industry groups; 16 major fossil fuel financiers; 6 industrial agriculture and food products groups; 3 Big Tech groups; and 20 cross-sector groups.
Among the largest delegations are International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) (29), BNP Paribas (22), HSBC (19), and Amazon (12).
Those with some of the most obstructive InfluenceMap Lobby scores were: Federation of German Industries (BDI) (23), ExxonMobil (13), BusinessEurope (11), JBS (7),TotalEnergies (5), Cargill (5), and BlackRock (5).
Representatives from these groups were given access to COP31 through various routes. There were 222 delegates hosted on Party overflow badges with 203 on non-governmental organizations. A total of 45 delegates were guests of the COP31 host country Türkiye, whereas 31 delegates were even on the official negotiating delegations of countries.

“In Papua our forests and coastal areas are being targeted for fossil fuel and food estate projects and carbon-offsetting schemes by major corporate emitters,” said KBPO partner Maikel Peuki, WALHI Papua. “This is not a genuine solution to the climate crisis. Those who cause pollution should be the ones to pay for the damage they have created.”

KBPO also analyzed the presence of fossil fuel financiers from the Banking on Climate Chaos Plus+ database and found delegates representing nearly 40% of global fossil fuel bank financing 2021-2025 are at COP31. Specifically:

Thirty banks at COP account for more than $2.2 trillion in fossil fuel financing from 2021-2025. That’s more than the annual GDP of at least 175 different countries in 2025– and more than the combined GDP of the 100 countries with the lowest GDP in 2025.
In 2025, the 10 top banks we found from the largest 100 financed 30% percent more in fossil fuels than what they had financed in 2023.
In 2025, these 30 banks financed nearly $95 billion more in fossil fuels than what they had financed in 2023.
Among the largest banks at COP31 are JPMorgan Chase ($248.77 billion), Citigroup ($207.19 billion), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial ($207.06 billion), Bank of America ($205.60 billion), Mizuho Financial ($205.06 billion), Barclays ($138.58 billion), CIBC ($106.72 billion), CITIC ($99.37 billion), Bank of China ($82.91 billion), and HSBC ($78.11 billion).

“We come from Nepal demanding justice,” said Prakash Dalal from Pro Public/Friends of the Earth Nepal. “Big Polluters have caused loss of livelihood, emotional damage, trauma, and survival challenges for our people. We cannot tolerate the disproportionate space given to them compared to civil society and our country delegations. We need to kick these Big Polluters out! This should be a moral and legal obligation for the COP."

Calls for measures that protect climate policymaking from the undue influence of Big Polluters continue to grow, as do worries about threats that become realized when Big Polluters are allowed to undermine and weaken action – whether the fossil fuel industry, industrial agriculture, Big Tech, or others. For years, KBPO partners have been calling for an Accountability Framework that would protect the UNFCCC from undue influence and include a conflict of interest policy that would help the UNFCCC stop being the exception to good practice. KBPO as well as UNFCCC rights-based constituencies Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), YOUNGO youth constituency, Trade Union NGOs (TUNGOs), Climate Action Network (CAN), and Demand Climate Justice, are demanding an end to the ability of Big Polluters to write the rules of climate action.

“Big Polluters and their financiers continue swarming COP’s corridors, working to protect their profits, obstruct climate action, and keep business as usual alive,” according to KBPO partner Lien Vandamme of Center for International Environmental Law. “You can’t put out a fire while handing the matches to the arsonists. And you certainly can’t expect the arsonists to write the evacuation plan. It’s therefore no surprise that the UN climate talks continue to fail in delivering the climate action that is needed. It’s time to show Big Polluters the door and fundamentally change the rules that keep rolling out the red carpet for them. That means binding conflict-of-interest safeguards, and putting people, science, and human rights ahead of corporate profit. We need a system that stops sabotaging itself – it’s high time to reform the UN climate talks and that includes kicking polluters out.”

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Kick Big Polluters Out is a coalition of more than 450 organizations across the globe united in demanding an end to the ability of Big Polluters to write the rules of climate action. Find more on the coalition and its demands here.

Additional quotes from Kick Big Polluters Out members:

"The report exposes the invisible hand behind the false solutions campaign and the agenda fights we’re seeing at COP31. Big Polluters are not only here to block the progress of the climate negotiations, but also to protect their interests at the risk of communities’ wellbeing. A space meant for the communities most affected by the climate crisis to be heard, is being used as a ‘greenwashing’ platform for polluting countries and corporations.

Allowing polluters to influence COP31 gives them legitimacy to continue with business as usual and breaches Global South communities’ trust in the COP31 process. We cannot let the very systems responsible for the climate crisis take over climate negotiations, while communities struggle to access the talks or are locked out of the entire process." Rachitaa Gupta, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“In Nigeria, global meat giant JBS is quietly locking up over 1.2 million hectares of land for industrial livestock plants to supply Africa threatening our smallholder farmers and pastoralists, our water, and our climate. We should not let JBS bring Amazon style deforestation and factory farming emissions into Nigeria to write climate rules." Dare Elujulo, Youth in Agroecology and Restoration Network

“The world has an addiction and we have invited the dealers to the intervention. Fossil fuel lobbyists should not have a space at COP. They are here providing billions of dollars to lobbying against real solutions and climate action. Why is it easier for these polluters to enter these spaces than women, the youth, the Indigenous Peoples and those most impacted by climate change? We must put an end to the fossil fuel agenda and listen to our people at the frontlines. Kick out the suits and justly transition away from this system in a way that is fast, fair, and funded.” Pema Lhundrup, earth in brackets

“COP31 cannot claim to be shaping a just urban future while giving polluting corporations a voice in the decisions that shape our cities. Across the Global South, the consequences of these decisions are visible in homes lost to flooding, workers pushed out of their livelihoods, and communities left out of plans for urban development. Yet the people living these realities have little influence over the decisions, while corporate polluters have privileged access to the negotiations. This is not just a question of who caused the climate crisis. It is about whose interests continue to shape the response.” Dulari, Climate Activist and Urban Researcher

“Indigenous Peoples globally have a long history experiencing the fossil fuel industry perpetuating racism, CO2olonialism, ecocide and genocide on our communities and environment. It has been a legacy of land dispossession, resource extraction, and health, cultural and spiritual disruption. At COP31 are delegates representing fossil fuel industry groups and major fossil fuel financiers continuing their history of sabotaging and stalling any real climate action. Kick the Big Polluters Out! Hold them accountable for perpetuating crimes against humanity and Mother Earth!” Tom BK Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

“The continuity of corporate capture of the UNFCCC and corporate lobbying at COPs is a major obstruction to just transition. Their overrepresentation stands in contrast with the peripheral role that groups impacted by climate change and unjust transitions are given in these spaces. If we are going to advance a just transition, we must kick the Big Polluters out of the negotiations and make them pay for their harm.” Jose Bravo, Just Transition Alliance

“People who live in countries with Big Oil headquarters – the US, the UK, and France – do not trust oil and gas companies to play a major role in the transition to renewable energy. The bad news is today’s research shows people are right to be suspicious and angry: Big Oil is at the UN climate negotiations in droves with a track record of trying to block climate action. But the good news is that people in their home countries see through their lies, and want to phase out fossil fuels.” David Tong, Oil Change International

“Young people, especially those most impacted by the climate crisis, are consistently denied meaningful participation in these conferences. Meanwhile, access and power is freely handed over to those who are perpetrating climate harm and destroying our planet in the name of their profits.” Beth Doherty, United Kingdom Youth Climate Coalition

“As the world's biggest climate summit, COP is the most crucial space we have to get leaders and communities in a room together, making decisions to protect people on our shared planet. It’s farcical that COP is still being swarmed by polluters who are actively working against a liveable and equitable future for everyone.The communities most affected by climate crisis should be at the heart of the world's biggest climate talks. Until we end polluter capture of COP, we won't see the fair and fast shift away from planet-wrecking fossil fuels the world needs." Gabriella Bianchini, Head of Partnerships at Global Witness

“JBS, the biggest meat producer, and their billionaire executives are sitting inside a national delegation while the world is demanding an end to destructive industrial animal agriculture. The same corporations profiting from a system that drives inequalities, destroys forests, fuels emissions and confines billions of animals cannot be allowed to dictate the terms of its transformation. Climate negotiations must not become a boardroom for Big Polluters.” Elodie Guillon, World Animal Protection

“After the heatwaves we’ve had in Europe, it’s unbelievable that many of those same corporations responsible for it dare to show their faces at a climate conference. Have they no shame? These negotiations are supposed to focus on avoiding extinction, but instead have become a trade expo for Big Polluter green washing. It’s high time to kick them out.” Pascoe Sabido, Corporate Europe Observatory

"The fact that East Africa contributes almost nothing to global emissions, yet bears the brunt of the climate crisis, is something civil society and allies have echoed for years. Although our leaders hear our words, Big Polluters are still given a free pass to push fossil fuel projects across our region with total impunity. East Africa already has the clean energy potential to power its own future. Until we Kick Big Polluters Out of our countries and our decision-making spaces, we will not make real strides towards climate action, or usher in a new age of affordable, accessible renewable energy that supports both our people and the climate.” Rukiya Khami, 350.org

“Corporations represented at COP31 are pouring trillions more into fossil fuels than any commitments on climate finance on the table. This should make us all very angry. We demand rights for people and rules for business! That means no seat at the table for big polluters. Instead governments need to ensure they pay for the harm they have caused. ” Kirtana Chandrasekaran, Friends of the Earth International Organization

“Why do Big Polluters come in numbers to COPs? Is it really in the interest of the planet and vulnerable communities or is it to protect their own commercial interests at the cost of an aggravated climate crisis? Governments decide who sits in their delegations, so they should say publicly who they bring, why, and how they manage conflicts of interest. We are hoping current consultations on COP strengthening happening in Antalya could create the space to discuss and make progress towards an accountability framework.” Brice Böhmer, Transparency International

“Anyone serious about phasing out fossil fuels must not open the door to those who stand in the way of the energy transition. At COP31, lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry and their financial backers still have access and influence, while civil society is being increasingly restricted. This influence must finally be curbed, particularly with regard to gas. Creating new dependencies on fossil fuels is not the answer to the energy crisis. Gas does not make our energy supply more secure; it merely keeps us trapped in our dependence on fossil fuels.” Susann Scherbarth, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND e.V.)

Quotes in other languages:

FRENCH
“JBS, le premier producteur mondial de viande, et ses dirigeants milliardaires siègent au sein d’une délégation nationale, alors que le monde réclame la fin de l’élevage industriel destructeur. Ces mêmes multinationales, qui tirent profit d’un système qui creuse les inégalités, détruit les forêts, aggrave les émissions et enferme des milliards d’animaux, ne peuvent pas être autorisées à dicter les conditions de sa transformation. Les négociations climatiques ne doivent pas devenir le conseil d’administration des grands pollueurs.” Elodie Guillon, World Animal Protection.

GERMAN:

”Wer den fossilen Ausstieg ernst meint, darf nicht denen die Türen öffnen, die ihn blockieren. Auf der COP31 erhalten Lobbyisten der fossilen Energiewirtschaft und deren Geldgeber weiterhin Zugang und Einfluss, während die Zivilgesellschaft zunehmend eingeschränkt wird. Dieser Einfluss muss endlich zurückgedrängt werden – gerade mit Blick auf Gas: Neue fossile Abhängigkeiten zu schaffen, ist keine Antwort auf die Energiekrise. Gas macht unsere Energieversorgung nicht sicherer, sondern hält uns in der fossilen Abhängigkeit gefangen.“ Susann Scherbarth, BUND e.V. (Friends of the Earth Germany)

Notes on methodology

Last year, KBPO’s line by line analysis of COP30 participants revealed that COP30 in 2025 had the largest analyzed concentration of fossil fuel lobbyists to-date, with COP29 the year before having more than 1,770 fossil fuel lobbyists. This year’s analysis is a distinctly separate angle from this, and the numbers cannot accurately be used in comparison as they focus on the most known egregious lobbying actors across a variety of sectors, not all actors in one sector. This research focuses less on general presence of a specific industry and more on the influence of particularly egregious actors across major polluting sectors, and the impact this influence can have.

Big Polluter lobbyist analysis

Delegations are classified as Big Polluters with most egregious records of blocking climate action if:

The official delegation and/or publicly declared affiliated organization according to UNFCCC data is a prominent corporation or industry association from the fossil fuel (including relevant mining, energy and utility companies), industrial agriculture, or tech industries (or a cross-sector combination), or banks that finance fossil fuels;
AND the affiliated corporation or organization is included in InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap and received a Performance Band score of C or below as of November 1 2026.

Every delegation meeting this criteria can be understood to officially be a formal representative in some capacity of these Big Polluter actors, whether intended or not.

As detailed in the LobbyMap methodology, a Performance Band score indicates “a full measure of a company’s climate policy engagement, accounting for both its own engagement and that of its industry associations.” A score of C or below indicates levels of misalignment and increasingly obstructive lobbying and engagement.

Importantly, this count is in no way a direct comparison to previous year’s research on fossil fuel lobbyists as it has a strategically unique focus and methodology that interrogates the presence of particularly influential actors across polluting sectors at the COP. In addition, the figures should be looked at as quite conservative, and are likely closer to a minimum number than a maximum. This is because:

Not all obstructive corporations or industry associations have a LobbyMap score. This excluded them from this analysis.
LobbyMap scores only analyze the visual part of lobbying. Much of lobbying cannot be tracked and traced, such as private meetings and undisclosed donations and activities. This can lead to actors with track records of being more obstructive on specific elements of climate policy being given an overall higher Performance Band score, or not being scored.
We only considered the information provided in the UNFCCC’s provisional list of participants, and specifically the delegation through which a delegate is attending COP, and any further affiliation the delegate disclosed. If a delegate did not choose to explicitly or transparently state an affiliation, or there were implied affiliations in official data outside of these two categories, they were not included in this analysis.
The analysis was not exhaustive.

Thanks to years of campaigning by Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) partners and constituencies, all participants registered to attend the COP31 climate talks in Türkiye are asked to declare the organization they work for, the nature of their relationship to this organization, their role, and the delegation they're part of. The latter can be an official party (country) delegation (or party overflow), a UN body, an intergovernmental organization, a non-government organization, or a media institution.

The UNFCCC published a provisional list of the participants at COP30 on 10 November 2026. Our team used exclusively manual classification methods to cross reference and classify COP31 participants based on the criteria listed above. The utmost care was taken in ensuring accuracy and rigorousness amidst a very tight timeline to conduct this rapid analysis. No AI tools were intentionally used to assess these data.

Fossil fuel financier analysis

We used data shared with us from the Banking on Climate Chaos 2026 (BoCC)+ database that was updated as of November 2 2026. The top 100 banks in this database were cross-checked with the delegations and disclosed affiliations listed in the COP31 provisional list of participants published by the UNFCCC on November 10 2026. From here, the number of fossil fuel financiers from BoCC+ that were present at COP31 was determined, and the respective amounts of fossil fuel finance tallied. See BoCC’s full methodology here.

The full reference for the Banking on Climate Chaos data is: RAN, Reclaim Finance, Urgewald, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Sierra Club, CEED. “Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2026.” June 2026.