**Press Release here revealing number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP29**
QUOTE SHEET:
Additional quotes from Kick Big Polluters Out members in response to the number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP29:
“As a community living in the shadow of oil rigs and gas flares, we know all too well the devastation that Big Polluters bring. Their lobbyists are the snakes in the grass, ready to strike at any moment to protect their profits. We must stand united to weed them out and reclaim our right to a sustainable future.” - Hilda Nakabuye, Fridays For Future Uganda, Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coalition.
"If we free ourselves from the influence of Big Polluters, then a radical shift away from corporate-controlled extractivism and industrial agriculture is within reach. Peasant agroecology and small-scale farming feed the majority of the world and must be supported. These solutions are already out there in our communities. It’s time to Kick Big Polluters Out, and build from these real solutions a locally-led economic system that is just for the people and ecosystem—not profit-driven exploitation.” -Agus Dwi Hastutik, WALHI / Friends of the Earth Indonesia
“Fossil fuel corporations again capturing the decision making space at COP is unacceptable. We are exposing these numbers, calling for an end to the presence of fossil fuel corporations at climate negotiations. They should be paying for the damage and suffering generated by the industry, not blocking any meaningful global action with their false solutions.”-Elena Gerebizza, ReCommon
“The climate crisis is a direct result of the fossil fuel industry’s greed, and their lobbyists are the architects of our collective inaction. We cannot allow them to dictate the future of our planet. We need to weed out these snakes and empower the communities that are leading the fight for a just transition.” -Kwami Kpondzo, Executive Director, Centre pour la Justice Environnementale, Togo
"The UN climate talks are full of fossil fuel lobbyists, and just like in previous years, a huge number of them are coming from European oil and gas companies and being brought in by European governments. The EU claims to be a climate leader, but how can that be true when it’s still so close to the fossil fuel industry? We need to kick big polluters out of the climate talks, and out of EU decision making." - Nathan Stewart, Fossil Free Politics
“Agriculture and food production accounts for at least 15% of all fossil fuels used annually. Fossil fuel giants are investing in petrochemicals to make pesticides and fertilizers, ensuring the increasing dependance of agriculture and food system on high carbon energy in the future. The presence of a high number of fossil fuel lobbyists is shocking, making it impossible to deeply transform our energy system and having a direct impact on preventing transformation of our food and agriculture system. The fossil fuel industry benefits from maintaining the status quo in industrial agriculture though the provision of energy intensive fertilisers and pesticides.
“We need to transform both agriculture and energy sectors, if we want to meet the targets of the Paris agreement. One transformation cannot be tackled without the other, they are deeply connected. We are calling for a stronger governance and transparency framework to prevent conflict of interest within the climate talks.” -Elodie Guillon, World Animal Protection
“These numbers are only what we can see, based on available information. The networks of influence of some powerful, and most of the time corrupt, groups reach much beyond. We need to do better in terms of disclosure around who participates at COP. We see there is still more than 20% of participants on national delegations who are allowed not to disclose. We can’t let dirty interests hide and conflicts of interest capture COPs anymore if we want to restore trust in the global climate decision making forum and see some success in the fight against the climate crisis.” -Brice Böhmer, Transparency International
“Every year, the fossil fuel lobby slithers into COP, wrapping its coils around the decision-making process and suffocating real climate action. We must uproot this toxic influence and give power back to the communities and ecosystems that have been harmed. It’s time to kick Big Polluters out and make them pay! ” -Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (CAPPA) Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coalition.
“I am deeply concerned by the statement from COP29’s host country’s president calling oil and gas a 'gift of God.' This short-sighted ambition completely contradicts the mandate given to COP29 to deliver an ambitious response to the climate crisis. It sends the wrong message at a critical moment, as countries facing the severe impacts of climate change urgently need transformative action, not the doubling down on fossil fuels that have brought us to the brink of collapse. Azerbaijan is home to the world's first industrial oil well. It is only fitting that this is the very same place where the world finally agrees to fossil fuel phase out. One that is fast, fair, feminist and fully funded. Africa cannot continue to be a platform where fossil fuel interests are advanced, while African communities suffer. We must weed out the snake of fossil fuel dependence from the garden of global climate progress, before it poisons any chance of tackling the ongoing climate collapse.” -Dean Bhekumuzi Bhebhe, Power Shift Africa
“For COP Presidencies to allow fossil fuel representatives year after year to COP negotiations is unacceptable, especially as the climate crisis deepens and fossil fuel lobbyists numbers keep rising. For next year’s COP30 in Brazil to serve the needs of civil society, Indigenous peoples, and all those it hopes to represent, we demand fossil fuel lobbyists be left out of the negotiating room, and for those whose lives and livelihoods are directly impacted by the fossil fuel industry’s disastrous legacy to be front and center.
“Fossil fuel corporations are driving the climate crisis, and their shady lobbyists are slithering around the UN Climate Change Conference blocking action while investing billions in new oil and gas. Our research shows the 54 companies who signed onto oil and gas companies’ ‘Decarbonization Charter’ at last year’s conference have since approved 68 new oil and gas projects and committed to nearly $250 billion in fossil fuel expansion. This locks in climate pollution equivalent to an entire year of U.S. carbon emissions. The IEA has made clear: any new fossil fuel expansion is incompatible with keeping warming below 1.5°C. Governments must adopt a conflict of interest policy to kick big polluters out.” -David Tong, Industry Campaign Manager, Oil Change International
“COP29 has an immense responsibility to deliver ambitious outcomes for the global majority. We must stand strong in our demands for an ambitious climate finance goal, protect and safeguard the integrity and legitimacy of these negotiations and the promises of multilateralism, despite the presence of climate wreckers and denialists whose interests include making profits for the wealthy minority while wreaking havoc on our planet. We need a Conflict of Interest Policy now.” -Ilan Zugman, 350.org
“The fossil fuel industry has long manipulated climate negotiations to protect its interests while our planet burns. It’s time to sever these ties and ensure that the voices of the Global South are amplified, not silenced. We must kick Big Polluters out of our climate conversations and make them Pay!” - Dawda Cham, Climate Justice Advocate, HELP -Gambia, Africa Make Big Polluters Pay Coalition.
“The fossil fuel industry has poisoned our lives for too long - and now its lobbyists are poisoning the climate talks, as the true architects of delay and obstruction. For COP29 to stand for justice, we must root out this toxic influence once and for all. The stakes are too high to let the very corporations driving the climate crisis call the shots. We demand a COP free from the interference of Big Polluters; it must be a space where frontline communities, Indigenous People, and the Global South can claim a future that belongs to the people, not profiteers.” -Tasneem Essop, Climate Action Network International
“New climate talks, same old story. Corporate capture - as demonstrated by the volume of fossil fuel lobbyists roaming in the corridors and rooms of COP29 - will continue to impede progress towards climate action if left unchecked. With so many foxes in the hen house, it's not hard to see why progress remains elusive and climate chaos increases. It is long past time for the UNFCCC and States to address the obvious conflict of interest of having those wrecking the planet in the process of saving it. We need to reform the climate negotiations process and make sure the voices of people on the frontlines, not the voices of polluters, are taking center stage.” -Erika Lennon, Center for International Environmental Law
“The fossil fuel industry has its tentacles deep in global and national policy making; Bankrolling elections campaigns, funneling billions of dollars into lobbying against genuine climate action and greenwashing. In UNFCCC processes, we have seen them derail climate action by shifting attention away from phasing out fossil fuels to conversations on emissions that give room to false solutions like carbon markets and risky, unproven technologies like CCS. Coming from Kenya where communities are facing severe impacts of droughts and floods, the presence of the fossil fuel industry at COPs reveals a harsh truth: the fossil fuel industry would rather sacrifice communities at the altar of profit than solve the climate crisis. We must push back against the corporate capture of climate policy making and reclaim them for people and the planet, before it is too late.” -Eric Njuguna, Youth climate justice organizer, ANGRY
“There is no doubt that burning fossil fuels is the leading cause of the climate crisis. Yet, the corporations behind this industry have been, since the beginning of the UN climate negotiations, allowed to enter, pressure, influence and shift the agendas and decisions made. The numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists attending these conferences keep increasing - along with the emissions and serious impacts that this industry leaves behind around the world, particularly on the territories of vulnerable communities.
It is time to phase out fossil fuels and bring back into focus the politics, power imbalances, and injustices ingrained in the extractivist system in order to open up the space to the many real and just climate solutions. As an immediate imperative, companies and actors associated with fossil fuel-dependent industries must be banned from public policy negotiations. People and public institutions must regain control of our decisions and our future. Now.” -Joanna Cabello, Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
“As parties gather in Baku to address the greatest challenge of our time, it is concerning that fossil fuel lobbyists continue to be granted so much access to the UN climate talks, pushing a fossil fuel agenda at the expense of frontline communities. All countries and sectors can and must be part of a just energy transition and a more fair and resilient world. The host president’s statement calling fossil fuels a ‘gift from God’ that must be further exploited calls into question the commitment to real climate action at COP29. It raises serious concerns about the impact of the fossil fuel lobby on progress in the global response to the crisis. If we are to tackle the climate crisis with the scale of action that matches the severity of the threat, we cannot do so with fossil fuel interests in the driver’s seat. The problem cannot be part of the solution.” -Amiera Sawas,Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
“For those who wonder why COPs fail to make enough progress: it is because each year there is a breathtaking number of delegates present who have a vested interest in maintaining the fossil fuel status quo. This is obvious to global youth observing these conferences with open eyes, and the obvious solution is to take steps to remove the corporate fossil fuel influence hanging over COPs” - George Carew-Jones, Spokesperson, YOUNGO (UNFCCC’s Youth Constituency)
“The fossil fuel industry has poisoned us for far too long - year after year, fossil fuel lobbyists sabotage climate negotiations and block real solutions. The climate crisis can only be overcome without fossil fuels. Millions of people are already suffering drastically from the consequences of the crisis. For COP29 to stand for justice, we must eliminate this harmful influence once and for all - without fossil fuels and without bogus solutions such as CCS or offsetting.“ -Susann Scherbarth, Friends of the Earth Germany