At least 7,200. That’s how many lobbyists with clear ties to the world’s biggest polluting fossil fuel firms, and their trade groups, attended the last 20 global climate talks.
That’s just one of the disturbing findings of a newly released analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, just days ahead of the next round of climate talks.
While we have always known that Big Polluters use their access to the global climate talks to distract, delay, and derail solutions to justly address the climate crisis, this new data shines a light on the depth and breadth of their sheer number, and highlights exactly why we need to kick Big Polluters out right now!
Will you take a moment to share this new analysis with the body that runs the U.N. climate talks and urge them to kick Big Polluters out right now? It will make a huge difference as we and other Kick Big Polluters Out allies head to the climate talks in just a few days.
Here are a couple more examples of how deeply embedded Big Polluters have been at the global climate talks through the years:
- Disclosed employees of fossil fuel firms have attended negotiations a minimum of 945 times, and employees of the “Big 5” oil giants (ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies) were given at least 267 badges to attend the climate talks.
- One trade organization, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), which was founded by Big Polluters, has been given 2769 badges to attend the climate talks.
Disturbingly, these findings are likely just the tip of the iceberg, as this research only looked at delegates who actively and voluntarily disclosed their polluter affiliations. We know Big Polluters have often historically entered the talks “incognito”, so the true numbers are likely far greater.
This is why it’s absolutely imperative that climate talks finally kick Big Polluters out, especially with an overwhelming number of polluting interests anticipated to descend on these talks.
