Did delegates notice the collision of two worlds at the COP yesterday? ECO saw an action by the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign at the entrance to the venue while recently released research showed that the number of lobbyists has increased to 2456 at this COP. This is four times the size that attended COP27. This number of representatives of the fossil fuel industry is more than the combined number of delegates from the 10 most vulnerable countries!
Meanwhile, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné was strutting around in the Blue Zone with an interesting badge. Guess whose badge he’s on? He was proudly wearing his party overflow accreditation from France.
It is clear that what is meant by “the most inclusive COP ever” is that it is the most inclusive for fossil fuel lobbyists.
ECO knows it is no coincidence that the delegates are struggling to agree on a fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase-out in the GST. The fossil fuel lobbyists are polluting the COP space.
ECO thinks it is outrageous to have the firestarters participate in a conference that has to extinguish the fires.