Risky negotiations for COP30, NGO Kick Big Polluters Out condemned the participation of many fossil energy lobbyists at the UN Climate Conference. There are 1,602 people associated with the oil, gas and coal sectors accredited in Belem, according to the coalition. Among them are energy giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell or TotalEnergies; oil companies; representatives from Volkswagen, Orsted (accused of selling gas), France’s EDF, and United Arab Emirates renewable energy company Masdar.
Complaints against big names in the oil supply chain
The KBPO Coalition has been analyzing delegation lists since 2021, but the UN has only started publishing more detailed participant lists since COP28. Therefore, historical comparisons appear fragile. The number of participants linked to the fossil industry could also be higher than has been calculated: 54% of the 42,000 accredited people have not declared their affiliation to the UN, according to Transparency International. “You can’t solve problems by giving power to those who caused them, that’s common sense,” said Jax Bonbon, a member of the coalition.
Negotiations over goals and funding stalled
Meanwhile, negotiations at the UN Conference also stalled due to a lack of consensus on key issues, including greenhouse gas reduction goals and financing packages for the poorest countries. A picture that reflects the historical differences between the South and rich countries. There is no shortage of important milestones: two days ago Aloizio Mercadante, president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development, announced the raising of more than 3.4 billion euros for the Climate Fund, calling it “one of the largest green financing initiatives in the world”. However, there is still a long way to go: first of all, the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees set by the Paris Agreement is increasingly under threat, as the Global Carbon Project report confirms.
“After 30 years of climate negotiations, the world is still on track towards global warming above the limits set by the Paris Agreement. Scientific data shows us that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, extreme events multiply, with the most vulnerable communities bearing the brunt.” said Cardinal Fabio Baggio, the Vatican’s deputy secretary for human development and general director of the higher education center Laudato si. «COP 30 focuses on the links between climate action, hunger and poverty. Humanity cannot be saved without saving the Earth, because the wounds of creation are also the wounds of humanity”, he underlined in an interview with La Stampa. “There are not two separate crises, one environmental crisis and the other a social crisis, but rather a single and complex socio-environmental crisis.”
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