Fossil gas lobbyists must be kicked out of the negotiating rooms on the worldwide COP local weather talks, international teams have urged the United Nations.
In a letter to the UN and its local weather arm, which convenes the annual summit, greater than 450 international campaigning organisations stated any oil firm consultant or trade lobbyist ought to “not be allowed to unduly influence climate policymaking”.
This permits them to “weaken and undermine the global response to climate change, and it’s why we are on the brink of extinction,” argue the signatories, which embrace Greenpeace, Oxfam, Tearfund and Friends of the Earth.
The registration of some 630 delegates with hyperlinks to fossil gas corporations to attend the final such talks, COP27 in Egypt in November, sparked backlash.
Their presence explains why COP27 “refused to even formally acknowledge the role that fossil fuels play in the climate crisis,” stated Rachel Rose Jackson, from the marketing campaign to Kick Big Polluters Out, which co-convened the letter.
For instance, a battle to decide to phasing down all fossil fuels finally fell by the wayside, “even though climate scenarios show there can be no fossil fuel expansion if we are to stay below critical thresholds”, she stated.
Campaigners have lengthy demanded that the UN limits the entry of fossil gas executives to the inside negotiating rooms, the place authorities representatives thrash out offers on the collective subsequent steps in the direction of combatting local weather change.
But they escalated the demand after the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) appointed an oil firm government as president of this yr’s talks, COP28 in Dubai on the finish of this yr.
As COP28 president, Sultan al-Jaber, a authorities minister who additionally runs state the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, is meant to drive the route of the negotiations, construct consensus, and maintain laggard governments to account.
His appointment “threatens the legitimacy and efficacy” of the convention, they stated.
But the COP course of relies on multilateralism and consensus, and offers all international locations an equal seat on the desk.
On Tuesday Canada’s local weather ambassador stated it’s “very important” that COP summits are “an inclusive process, that everybody has a voice”.
End dependancy to fossil fuels – UN chief
The campaigners settle for that oil and fuel majors must be concerned within the dialogue, as these corporations must rework if the world is to cease burning their merchandise.
But they need to be restricted to the fringes, and the UN’s local weather physique, the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), ought to lastly arrange a battle of curiosity and accountability course of to police their involvement, the campaigners say.
They additionally acknowledge that boundaries between governments and trade are generally blurred, akin to in petrostates.
Antonio Guterres, secretary normal of the United Nations, has spoken more and more critically of the fossil gas trade, accusing them of spending extra time on averting a PR catastrophe than a planetary one.
Responding to the appointment of Mr Al-Jaber earlier this month, Mr Guterres’s spokesperson stated the choice of the host COP and of the COP president is “a matter for Member States, in which the Secretary-General or the Secretariat of the UNFCCC have absolutely no involvement”.
But they added that humanity is “losing the battle to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” which may solely be averted by “ending our addiction to fossil fuels”.
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The UAE COP28 workforce has been contacted for remark, whereas the UNFCCC declined to reply.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who has labored for the UAE authorities, has backed Mr al-Jaber’s appointment and the UAE’s presidency.
“The UAE has shown leadership in climate investment and innovation. It is already one of the largest investors in renewables at home and abroad,” he stated earlier this month.
He added: “It has strong relationships with the Global North and South, East and West, and can be the honest broker needed to raise ambitions and seek real consensus.”
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