Sharp rise in fossil fuel industry delegates at COP27
COP27: Delegations from fossil fuel industry rise significantly
According to analysis provided to the BBC, there are now 25% more fossil fuel-related participants at the UN climate summit than there were at the previous gathering. More than 600 attendees at the talks in Egypt, according to the advocacy group Global Witness, have ties to fossil fuels.
The number exceeds the combined delegations from the ten nations with the greatest climate change impacts. In the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the COP27 summit is anticipated to draw about 35,000 attendees. The coal, oil, and gas industries have consistently sent a sizable contingent to these conferences, eager to shape the conversation. This year, that number increased to 636.
One of the activists who released the information with the Corporate Europe Observatory, Rachel Rose Jackson from Corporate Accountability, said, “COP27 looks like a trade show for the fossil fuel industry.”
The fossil fuel industry’s agenda is deadly, and their motivation is profit and greed. They are not serious about climate action, and they never will be. We are on a carousel of madness instead of taking action to combat climate change.
The number of people registered who were either directly connected to fossil fuel companies or who were in attendance as a part of national delegations that represent the fossil fuel industry was counted by the researchers.
According to the data, this year there are more representatives from the ten nations most affected by climate change—including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Mozambique—than there are total delegates from those nations.
Sharp rise in fossil fuel industry delegates at COP27
United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 in 2019, sent the largest delegation to COP27. There are now 1,070 people on the ground, compared to just 170 the year before.
According to the analysis, 70 members of that delegation had ties to the extraction of fossil fuels. The 150-person Russian delegation includes 33 oil and gas lobbyists.
