Fossil fuel lobbyists have outnumbered delegates at the ongoing Conference of the Parties (COP30) meeting in Brazil.
An analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition of the attendance list revealed that more than 1600 fossil fuel lobbyists were present in Belem, the venue of the talks.
The group says this number is a 12 per cent increase compared to last year’s attendance in Baku, Azerbaijan.
‘With one in every 25 participants in Belém representing the fossil fuel industry, the calls for an accountability framework to protect the talks from big polluters grow stronger,’ the coalition said in a press statement.
In the analysis, the activists added that several Global North countries included fossil fuel representatives within their official delegations.
‘France brought 22 fossil fuel delegates, with five from TotalEnergies, including CEO Patrick Pouyanné; Japan’s delegation contained 33 fossil fuel lobbyists, among them Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Osaka Gas; and Norway snuck 17 into the talks, including six senior executives from its national oil and gas giant Equinor,’ it adds.