'We Need a Shift': Climate Leaders Demand End of COP Dominated by Petrostates, Big Oil Lobby

The crushing influence of petrostates and fossil fuel industry lobbyists has rendered the annual United Nations climate conference unfit to deliver the kinds of sweeping changes needed to avert catastrophic warming, a coalition of leading scientists, advocates, and policy experts warned in an open letter released Friday as the first week of the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan came to a close.

Acknowledging that the COP process has achieved "important diplomatic milestones" and "a remarkable consensus" on climate targets over nearly three decades of international negotiations, the coalition wrote that the policy framework produced by dozens of U.N. summits is not sufficient to solve the pressing crises facing humanity in an age of runaway warming and large-scale climate devastation.

"Science tells us that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 7.5% annually to have any chance of staying within the 1.5°C threshold, a prerequisite for the stability of our planet and a livable future for much of humanity. In 2024, the task is unequivocal: Global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 4 billion tonnes," reads the letter, whose signatories include former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres, Club of Rome global ambassador Sandrine Dixson-Declève, and Potsdam Institute for Climate Action Research director Johan Rockström.

"Twenty-eight COPs have delivered us with the policy framework to achieve this, but it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose," the letter continues. "Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity."

The letter calls not for a complete abandonment of COP but rather "a fundamental overhaul" that would enable the U.N.-led summit "to deliver on agreed commitments and ensure the urgent energy transition and phase-out of fossil energy."

The coalition of experts and advocates recommended a number of reforms for future COP summits, including "strict eligibility criteria to exclude countries who do not support the phase-out/transition away from fossil energy," new "mechanisms to hold countries accountable for their climate targets and commitments," and changes to limit the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists and ensure equitable representation.

"At the last COP, fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered representatives of scientific institutions, Indigenous communities, and vulnerable nations," Figueres said in a statement Friday. "We cannot hope to achieve a just transition without significant reforms to the COP process that ensure fair representation of those most affected."

Rockström added that "there is still a window of opportunity for a safe landing for humanity, but this requires a global climate policy process that can deliver change at exponential speed and scale."

"Planet Earth is in critical condition," he said. "We have already crossed six planetary boundaries."

"2024 marks yet another year at COP where we see those fighting the climate crisis outnumbered by those that have contributed to it the most—the fossil fuel industry."

The open letter was released in the wake of a new analysis from the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition showing that at least 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP29 summit—giving the industry primarily responsible for the global climate emergency more representation than nearly every country present at the talks in Baku.

According to the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition, the fossil fuel industry has more representation at COP29 than the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined.

Additionally, The Guardianreported Friday that "at least 132 oil and gas company bosses and staff were invited" to COP29 as "guests" by Azerbaijan's government and "given host country badges."

"2024 marks yet another year at COP where we see those fighting the climate crisis outnumbered by those that have contributed to it the most—the fossil fuel industry," said Joseph Sikulu of 350.org. "How can we achieve the ambition that is needed to save our homes when these negotiations are continually flooded with fossil fuel lobbyists? There is a ban on tobacco lobbyists from attending the World Health Organization's summit, why is that not the case for the fossil fuel industry at COP?"

"We demand that the upcoming COP presidencies set clear rules against the presence of fossil fuel interests at the negotiating table," Sikulu added. "Our lives depend on it."

Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president, joined climate advocates on Friday in decrying Big Oil's capture of the U.N. climate summit.

"It's unfortunate that the fossil fuel industry and the petrostates have seized control of the COP process to an unhealthy degree," said Gore.

Lamenting that the follow-through on COP28 commitments to transition away from fossil fuels has been "very weak," Gore said he believes "one of the reasons for that is that the petrostates have too much control over the process."