Global: Over 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists have access to the Cop30 negotiations, outnumbering every single country’s delegation apart from Brazil, new analysis has found
"Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber all Cop30 delegations except Brazil, report says", 14 October 2025
...More than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the Cop30 climate negotiations in Belém, significantly outnumbering every single country’s delegation apart from the host Brazil, new analysis has found.
One in every 25 participants at this year’s UN climate summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to the analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, raising serious questions about the corporate capture and credibility of the annual Cop negotiations.
This year’s tally represents a 12% rise from last year’s climate talks...
...This is corporate capture, not climate governance,” said Lien Vandamme, senior campaigner on human rights and climate change at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)...
Yet the fossil fuel industry, which has a long history of spreading misinformation and disinformation while blocking meaningful climate action, received almost 60% more passes to Cop30 than the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined (1,061), according to analysis by KBPO, an international coalition of 450 organizations...
In July, the international court of justice (ICJ) ruled that continued fossil fuel expansion, extraction, consumption and subsidies may constitute an internationally wrongful act...
“From the halls of the UNFCCC to our lands and territories, fossil fuel corporations are wrecking our communities and environment. Yet the red carpet is rolled out for thousands of lobbyists to roam the corridors,” said Nerisha Baldevu from Friends of the Earth Africa...
The 1,602 fossil fuel lobbyists identified include 148 with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); 60 with the International Emissions Trading Association (Ieta), including delegates from oil and gas giants ExxonMobil, BP and TotalEnergies; and 41 with the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (BNCI)...
Several big polluters from the global north invited fossil fuel representatives to join their official delegations including France, which brought 22 industry delegates including the CEO of TotalEnergies, and Norway, whose group included six senior executives from its national oil and gas giant Equinor...
A UNFCCC spokesperson said: “As of 2023, measures have been taken to enhance transparency so that it’s clearer who participates at Cop. We have done this in consultation with civil society and other stakeholders. Just as no single Cop can be expected to solve the climate crisis overnight, making further concrete improvements is an ongoing journey, noting that national governments have sole authority to decide who is in their delegations”...