2023-12-05 12:20:25
Welcome to the land of oil: at least they are at Cop28 2456 fossil fuel lobbyists, four times more than the previous Climate Conference. There is no point in hiding it, it was known that this conference – led by the oilman president Al Jaber – would be strongly colored by the black of crude oil, but an interference of this magnitude cannot go unnoticed.
Already last year at Cop27 in Egypt the presence of 600 lobbyists (+25% compared to the previous edition in Glasgow) had raised eyebrows and opened up controversy about how in the rooms of these conferences, whose aim is to think about action necessary to keep the Planet within +1.5 degrees, the footprint of the world oil&gas is now increasingly marked and moreover in the light of the sun.
After all, as the prime minister also claimed Giorgia Meloni here in Dubai, to think about abandoning fossil fuels it is necessary to invite those who produce them to the table in an attempt to think about a real change. But is it really acceptable that there is such a high presence of the fossil world at a summit on climate and nature?
The figure, also given the public data released by the UNFCCC on presences here in the Emirates, was calculated by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition which aims precisely to remove the veil (and distance them) from the lobbyists and their influence at the meeting organized by the UN. The impressive fact is that the representatives of the oil, gas and coal industries exceed the number of delegates from many countries, or the number of activists and environmentalists.
The Cop28 focus, the oil lobby and the decarbonisation bluff by Luca Fraioli 04 December 2023
With the exception of the Brazilian delegates, all the lobbyists of Shell, Total ed ExxonMobil in fact, it surpasses in number the delegates of almost all nations. Added together, fossil fuel lobbyists have more accreditations than the overall total of delegates (1,609) from the 10 most vulnerable countries climate-wise combined, including Somalia, Chad, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Sudan.
An enormous interference that divides within the COP itself: if the more moderate accept to sit at the tables with those who represent the companies responsible for the emissions that have the greatest impact on the health of the Planet, the more drastic are instead intransigent.
David Tong of Oil Change International reminds for example that “you wouldn’t invite arms dealers to a peace conference. Countries and communities are here to negotiate for their lives, while fossil fuel companies and their supporters are here for their wallets. These dirty tricks must not prevent us from achieving a rapid and complete fossil phase-out.”
The Cop28 focus, what happened to the environmental protests? by Giacomo Talignani 05 December 2023
Because, then, the point is precisely this: how much constant pressure from the world oil&gas will it affect the final text of the negotiation? Currently, in the second draft circulated in Dubai, there is talk of the idea of including in the final language of the document a wording on an “orderly” and gradual release of the fossil. These are only first words, which will probably change, but for many the delicate battle inside the pavilions will only be a victory if the phase out of fossil fuels.
Even the indigenous leaders present at COP28 asked, with a small protest made up of chants and signs, to “kick the big polluters out of the Conference”.
The Cop28 diary: hope beyond negotiations for all indigenous peoples by Rituraj Phukan* 04 December 2023
In part, this complex context in which one person in thirty present at the climate talks is in fact accredited as a representative of the oil & gas industry (including dozens of Italians) is “justified” by specific meetings, such as the one at the COP’s Al Waha Theater to attempt to “accelerate the elimination of methane emissions and the decarbonization of oil and gas.”
However, NGOs and activists keep their attention high on the fact that the fossil fuel industry cannot continue to insist on it alternative solutions, from the capture and storage of CO2 to compensations, as an excuse for not tackling a real exit from fossil fuels. Also because the data for the future – linked to fossil fuels – are increasingly alarming: carbon dioxide emissions deriving from fossil fuels are in fact reaching record levels, says a new report from Global Carbon Project which talks about a 1.1% more fossil-related emissions compared to last year (mainly due to coal from China and India).
In detail, the forecasts indicate a 1.1% increase in emissions from coal, 1.5% from oil and 0.5% from gas for 2023. At this rate, scientists remind us, the objective will no longer be to keep the world within +1.5 degrees, but within +2.
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