International 1,600 oil, gas and coal lobbyists at UN climate summit
The World Climate Conference is discussing how to curb global warming - but according to a data analysis, at least 1,602 lobbyists from the oil, gas and coal industries are officially accredited at the UN meeting in Brazil. This was announced in Belém by the "Kick Big Polluters Out" coalition, which is supported by organizations including Transparency International, Global Witness, Greenpeace and the Climate Action Network. Publicly available data from the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) was analyzed.
14.11.2025, 07:33
SDA
According to the analysis, lobbyists have more access passes than all delegations of the ten most vulnerable countries to global warming. These are Chad, Niger, the Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Somalia, Tonga, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Eritrea. Together, they only have 1,061 delegates in Belém.
These lobbyists often belong to trade or business associations that are allowed to send "observers" to the climate conferences. According to the analysis, as many as 164 lobbyists were accredited directly via government delegations. France, for example, has 22 representatives from the fossil fuel sector in its official delegation, including five from TotalEnergies. And a total of 599 of the approximately 1,600 lobbyists have "party overflow" accreditation, which gives them access to inner negotiating circles.
The coalition of dozens of environmental and climate organizations is now calling for the United Nations to exclude major polluters from climate summits in future so that they cannot influence delegates behind closed doors, in the corridors or at informal meetings. The argument: their lobbying interests fundamentally contradict the climate conference's mandate under international law to curb global warming. Furthermore, all participants would have to be obliged to disclose their financial sources and potential conflicts of interest in order to create transparency.
Governments as accomplices
Ivonne Yanez from Accion Ecologica in Ecuador said that oil, gas and coal companies were driving the world into the abyss. And many governments are their accomplices because they bring fossil fuel lobbyists to climate summits or at least tolerate them. "For 30 years, climate summits have provided an ideal stage for oil companies to burnish their image, do business and find new ways to commit their environmental crimes with impunity."
Burning oil, gas and coal releases the climate-damaging greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which heats up the planet dangerously. The fatal consequences are more frequent and more severe droughts, heat waves, forest fires and storms. At the climate conference in Dubai in 2023, all 200 countries actually agreed to move away from these fossil fuels, but many countries have plans to expand them.
One lobbyist for every 25 delegates
According to the analysis at the time, more than 2,450 fossil fuel lobbyists were accredited in Dubai - a record. In comparison, the number of participants at the COP30 is now lower, and it is also lower than at last year's summit in Azerbaijan. However, the relative proportion of lobbyists has increased, as there is now almost one lobbyist for every 25 delegates in Belém.
Jax Bonbon from the development organization Ibon International, based in the Philippines, spoke of a farce that so many lobbyists were there. "It is outrageous to see how their influence increases year after year." The victims are the UN process and the people affected by the consequences of the climate crisis.
