BELEM: Lobbyists tied to the fossil fuel industry have turned up in strength at the UN climate talks in the Brazilian Amazon, an NGO coalition said Friday, warning that their presence undermines the process.
A total of 1,602 delegates with links to the oil, gas and coal sectors have headed to Belem, equivalent to around one in 25 participants, according to Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO), which analyzed the list of attendees.
By comparison, hosts Brazil have sent 3,805 delegates.
The list compiled by KBPO includes representatives of energy giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies, as well as state-owned oil firms from Africa, Brazil, China and the Gulf.
But it also includes personnel from a broad range of companies such as German automaker Volkswagen or Danish shipping giant Maersk, or representatives of trade associations and other groups.
The Venice Sustainability Foundation is on the list because its members include Italian oil firm Eni.
KBPO also counted Danish wind energy giant Orsted, as it still has a gas trading business, and French energy firm EDF — most of its power comes from nuclear plants but it still uses some fossil fuels.
The list includes state-owned Emirati renewable firm Masdar.
One of the analysts, Patrick Galey, head of fossil fuel investigations at Global Witness, told AFP that some of the names might appear “surprising” at first sight, but KBPO analyzes data and open source material to identify those linked to fossil fuels.
Any renewable company that is a subsidiary of a fossil fuel firm made the list, for instance, because they are “at the beck and call” of their parent group, Galey said.
KBPO said it considers a fossil fuel lobbyist any delegate who “represents an organization or is a member of a delegation that can be reasonably assumed to have the objective of influencing” policy or legislation in the interests of the oil, gas and coal industry.
KBPO started analyzing official lists of COP participants in 2021.
COP28 in oil-rich Dubai in 2023 had a record number of participants — over 80,000 — but also the most fossil fuel lobbyists ever counted by KBPO at 2,456, or three percent of the total.
In Belem, 3.8 percent of attendees are tied to fossil fuel interests, the largest share ever documented by KBPO.
The UN began publishing a more comprehensive list of participants at COP28, making historical comparisons tricky.
“It’s common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it,” said Kick Big Polluters Out member Jax Bonbon from IBON International in the Philippines, which was recently struck by a devastating typhoon.
“Yet three decades and 30 COPs later, more than 1,500 fossil fuel lobbyists are roaming the climate talks as if they belong here,” Bonbon said in a statement.
The numbers could be higher.
According to Transparency International, 54 percent of participants in national delegations either withheld their affiliation or selected a vague category such as “guest” or “other.”
Fossil fuel lobbyists out in force at Amazon climate talks: NGOs
https://arab.news/w585x
Fossil fuel lobbyists out in force at Amazon climate talks: NGOs
Iranian drones hit Azerbaijan airport
- Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned the Iranian envoy after two people were wounded in drone hits on an airport and near a school
DUBAI: Azerbaijan on Thursday summoned the Iranian envoy after two people were wounded in drone hits on an airport and near a school.
The attacks around midday involved at least two drones that crossed from Iran into Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan, which borders Iran and is separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia, said a foreign ministry statement.
“One drone fell on the terminal building of Nakhichevan Airport, while another drone fell near a school building in the village of Shekerabad,” the ministry said, damaging the airport and wounding two civilians.
The ministry said it had summoned Iranian envoy in Baku to express “strong protest” over the attack, which “contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to rising tensions in the region.
“Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” it added.
Iran has long expressed concern that Israel — a close ally of Azerbaijan and a key arms supplier — could use Azerbaijani territory to stage attacks.
Last June, Azerbaijan reassured Iran that it would not allow its territory to be used for attacks against Tehran after Israel launched a large-scale strike on Iranian targets.
Tehran has historically been wary of separatist sentiment among its ethnic Azerbaijani minority, which makes up around 10 million of Iran’s 83 million citizens.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry lodged an official protest with the Iranian embassy on Thursday after a pair of Iranian drones flew across the border into Azerbaijan and injured two people at an airport in the Nakhchivan exclave.
“This attack on the territory of Azerbaijan contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to increased tensions in the region,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran clarify the matter in the shortest possible time, provide an explanation and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.”
The Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan has been summoned to the foreign ministry to receive a formal note of protest, Baku said.
The statement said Azerbaijan reserved the right to carry out “appropriate response measures” against Tehran.
Azerbaijan’s ministry said one drone fell on the terminal building of the Nakhchivan International Airport, which is approximately 10 km (6 miles) across the border from Iran, and another drone landed close to a school building in a nearby village.
A source close to the Azerbaijani government told Reuters a fire had started as a result of the incident.
Video footage shared by the source showed black smoke rising near the airport and damage to the skylight inside the terminal building.
