As we approach COP29, more than a hundred civil society organisations have written to EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra asking him to not bring fossil fuel lobbyists to the UN climate talks as part of the EU delegation. The letter was sent on Monday 4th November 2024.
At last year’s climate negotiations, COP28, the EU and its member states brought more than 130 fossil fuel lobbyists, according to research by the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign. Hoekstra’s team brought in senior executives from Eni and BP, as well as ExxonMobil’s chief lobbyist in Brussels.
The letter, coordinated by the Fossil Free Politics campaign from 112 organisations in Europe and around the world, calls for fossil fuel lobbyists to be treated similarly to tobacco lobbyists, who are banned from the delegations of countries that have signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This includes the European Commission and all EU member states.
A similar message is being passed to national-level ministers in 9 countries across Europe: members of the Fossil Free Politics coalition in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK have all called on their governments to not bring fossil fuel lobbyists to COP29.
Read the letter in full:
To: European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra
CC: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
CC: European Commissioner-designate Teresa Ribera
Dear European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra,
Subject: excluding fossil fuel lobbyists from EU delegations at UN climate talks
We are writing to you about the oversized influence of the fossil fuel industry on climate change policy discussions and the need to ensure that oil and gas companies are not given privileged access to the climate negotiations.
The world has just experienced its hottest twelve months in history and across Europe record breaking heat waves followed by devastating floods have brought destruction and heartbreak to people in country after country. This was avoidable. But for too long those who profit from maintaining the current fossil fuel system have stopped, delayed or watered down actions to halt global heating. Their voices have dominated the conversation, including at the UN climate talks.
This November in Baku, governments will gather once more to try and further the goals agreed under the Paris Agreement and limit global temperature rises to 1.5oc. It is a chance for the EU to show global leadership and demonstrate the credibility of its commitment to transition away from fossil fuels.
That credibility is currently in question. Last year the EU and its Member States brought more than 130 fossil fuel lobbyists into COP28 on their delegations, according to analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign.
Your own team at the European Commission brought senior executives from BP and Eni into the talks, as well as ExxonMobil’s chief lobbyist in Brussels. Would the EU bring tobacco lobbyists to a global health conference?
No, because the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) under the World Health Organisation (WHO), to which the EU is a signatory, explicitly recognises the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the commercial interests of the tobacco industry and those of public health officials. It even has guidelines for governments on how to protect policy making from undue influence. This includes not bringing tobacco lobbyists to international WHO negotiations and not asking them to speak at your events.
We believe it is vital to take a comparable approach to the fossil fuel industry and its fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest. The EU should not be bringing oil and gas lobbyists to COP29 or any future COP. It is no more reasonable to ask ExxonMobil and BP how to transition away from fossil fuels than it is to ask Phillip Morris how to quit smoking.
We, the undersigned, ask that you support measures that protect public policy making against the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists and, as a first step, commit to not providing registration at UN climate talks for executives or lobbyists of fossil fuel corporations, nor invite them to speak at events. This should be part of a broader EU-level conflict of interest framework.
Additionally, at the international level, we ask that you proactively support the UNFCCC secretariat in creating an Accountability Framework to protect the talks from undue influence of polluting interests.
The Fossil Free Politics coalition, made up of more than 200 organisations in Europe and around the world, would be happy to discuss the matter further before COP29, and will follow up once you are back from Baku.
Yours sincerely,
Nathan Stewart
Fossil Free Politics coordinator, on behalf of:
European
- A Sud Ecologia e Cooperazione
- ActionAid Denmark
- Amis de la Terre France / Friends of the Earth France
- Andy Gheorghiu Consulting
- ASEED
- Attac Austria
- Attac España
- Attac Italy
- BLOOM
- CAN Europe
- CCFD-Terre Solidaire
- CEE Bankwatch Network
- Centro di Documentazione sui Conflitti Ambientali CDCA
- Christian Aid Ireland
- Circolo Legambiente Gemme APS
- Citizens´ Climate Europe
- Clean Air Action Group
- Climate Emergency UK
- Climate Resistance
- CNCD-11.11.11
- Corporate Europe Observatory
- Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (DUH)
- ECODES
- Ecologistas en Acción
- EconomiaCircolare.com (pubblished by Editrice Circolare Società Cooperativa)
- Eko-svest
- Electra Energy
- Environmental Association “Za Zemiata” – Friends of the Earth Bulgaria
- Estonian Green Movement
- European Environmental Bureau
- Focus
- Fondazione Openpolis
- Food & Water Action Europe
- Fossil Free Parliament
- Fridays for Future Spain – Juventud por el Clima
- Friends of the Earth Denmark
- Friends of the Earth Europe
- Friends of the Earth Ireland
- Friends of the Earth Malta
- Friends of the Earth Spain
- Fuel Poverty Action
- Fundación Renovables
- GLOBAL 2000
- Greenpeace European unit
- Hawkmoth
- INKOTA network
- Isde, International Society of Doctors for Environment Italy
- LDH (Ligue des droits de l’Homme)
- Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO)
- Les Amis de la Terre – Belgique
- LobbyControl e.V.
- Milieudefensie / FoE Netherlands
- Miljøagentene / Eco Agents
- Misereor
- Mothers Rise Up
- Naturefriends Greece
- NGO Green liberty
- Notre Affaire à Tous
- Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG)
- Re-set: platform for socio-ecological transformation
- Reclaim Finance
- ReCommon
- Rise For Climate Belgium
- Scomodo
- SEAE- Sociedad Española de Agricultura Ecológica y Agroecología
- SETEM Catalunya
- Sherpa
- Shifting Advocacy
- Spire
- Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA
- The Climate Reality Project Europe
- The Green Fix
- Tipping Point UK
- Transition Crich
- Transparency International EU
- Transparency International France
- Un Ponte Per
- WeMove Europe
- Wilde Ganzen
- WISE Nederland
International
- 350.org
- Anti-Jindal & Anti-POSCO Movement (JPPSS)
- ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change)
- BankTrack
- Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
- Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Mgt (CECIC)
- Clean Energy Action
- Climate Clock
- Corporate Accountability
- Diálogo 2000-Jubileo Sur Argentina
- Earth Action, Inc.
- EKOenergy ecolabel
- Empower Our Future
- Friends of the Earth International
- Friends of the Earth US
- Global Witness
- Hivos
- Innovation pour le Développement et la Protection de l’Environnement
- Oil Change International
- Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
- Pensamiento y Acción Social
- SAVE MY WORLD
- Sierra Club
- SOMO
- South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
- The International Institute of Climate Action & TheoryIICAT
- Transnational Institute
- Transparency International
- urgewald
- WeSmellGas
- Youth for green nature (Y4GN)