Brussels, 13 October 2026 – As the first-ever Brussels Climate Week kicks off, its credibility risks being undermined by sponsorship from French gas giant ENGIE, says the Fossil Free Politics campaign.
The first-ever Brussels Climate Week is a promising initiative. However, the involvement of the fossil fuel industry overshadows its positive impact.
ENGIE is the main partner of the Energy Day during the Brussels Climate Week. Giving a major fossil fuel company a prominent partnership role in an event dedicated to climate action provides the company with valuable green credentials while allowing its continued fossil fuel activities to escape scrutiny.
ENGIE presents itself as a leader in the energy transition, while remaining heavily invested in gas and LNG. The company is a leading importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe and has secured long-term LNG supply contracts running into the 2040s. ENGIE also continues to invest in gas-fired power generation, including the commissioning of a new 875 MW gas-fired power plant in Belgium in 2025.
ENGIE’s climate credentials are further undermined by its lobbying against rules designed to curb emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In 2022 already, the company argued against holding importers accountable for the quality of emissions data. In April 2025, ENGIE co-signed an industry letter calling for weaker and delayed implementation of the EU Methane Regulation (EUMR). Through its membership of Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) and Eurogas, ENGIE was also involved in further efforts to weaken and delay the Methane Regulation in 2025 and 2026 (1).
The problem goes beyond ENGIE. Fossil fuel companies and their lobby groups have a fundamental conflict of interest when it comes to climate policy. Companies whose business models depend on continued fossil fuel production, trading and infrastructure should not be given privileged platforms to influence public debates about the energy transition and fossil fuel phase out.
“Climate events should be spaces where we confront the climate crisis and discuss how to accelerate the fossil-free transition — not platforms where fossil fuel companies can buy credibility and greenwash their business model. Asking ENGIE to be a main partner of a climate event is like asking Marlboro to sponsor a conference on public health. Fossil fuel companies should not be given privileged access to shape climate debates”
said Kim Claes, Fossil Free Politics Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe.
The Fossil Free Politics (2) coalition therefore called today at the entrance of the event for fossil fuel partnerships and sponsorships to be banned from climate events like the Brussels Climate Week and for strong safeguards to limit the influence of fossil fuel interests on climate policymaking and public debate.
Brussels Climate Week can become an important platform for meaningful climate action. But to be credible, it should cut the ties with fossil fuels interests and put people impacted by the climate crisis at the centre.
Notes
- Please find a factsheet including a list of sources on ENGIE here.
- The ‘Fossil Free Politics’ coalition was launched in 2019 with the support of nearly 200 civil society organisations, and is calling for an official limit to the power of fossil fuel lobbyists in Europe that mirrors what’s in place for the tobacco industry. Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory and Food & Water Europe, are coordinating this campaign.