COP30: Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber Philippine delegation, study finds

The Philippines sent a small-sized delegation of 34 people to COP30 at Belem, Brazil led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, with representatives from the Climate Change Commission, Department of Energy, Department of Finance, and Department of Labor and Employment to name a few. 

But the all-star cast from across government is outnumbered by fossil fuel lobbyists. According to an analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, there are more than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists present at this year's climate summit, outnumbering the Philippine delegation 50 to 1.

The report adds fossil fuel lobbyists have received two thirds more passes to COP30 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable nations.

The discrepancy raises a few eyebrows as climate change is largely caused by burning fossil fuels.

"The voices of those on the frontlines are being drowned out by the checkbooks of those on the profit lines," Yeb Saño, climate activist and executive director at Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT, Inc.) tells GMA News Online.

"When the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined get fewer passes than the army of lobbyists from the industry primarily causing the crisis, the process is fundamentally broken," he adds.

"This is supposed to be a climate summit, not a trade show for polluters," Saño said.

For Maisarah Faiesall, the Head of Policy, Strategy, and Advocacy at the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, the overwhelming presence of fossil fuel lobbyists puts the future of COPs at stake.

"The future of climate COPs is compromised if we continue to have an overwhelming flood of fossil fuel lobbyists diluting negotiations, influencing country Pavilion agendas, and overshadowing voices of civil society," she tells GMA News Online on email.

"This is deliberate corporate capture to delay and distract an urgent, accelerated, and just energy transition. How much of short-term profit is worth our own long-term wellbeing and survival?" she asked.

In a statement, Jax Bonbon from IBON International adds, "It's common sense that you cannot solve a problem by giving power to those who caused it." 

"It's infuriating to watch their influence deepen year after year, making a mockery of the process and of the communities suffering its consequences," he adds.

COP30 takes place as the Philippines reels from devastation caused by back-to-back typhoons. In his statement, Bonbon said "Just days after devastating floods and super typhoons in the Philippines, and amid worsening droughts, heatwaves, and displacement across the Global South, we see the very corporations driving this crisis being given a platform to foist the same false 'solutions' that sustain their profit motives and undermine any hope of truly addressing the climate emergency."

According to KBPO, the number of fossil fuel lobbyists this year outnumbers all countries that have sent a delegation to COP30, except the host country, Brazil.

In fact, the number of fossil fuel lobbyists present at COP30 is up 12% from last year's COP29 — a stark contrast from the Philippine delegation, which last year sent a 65-member team to Baku, according to a report by Carbon Brief.

Despite the costs and the logistical nightmares of mounting COP30 in the small amazonian city of Belem, there are more than 50,000 registered delegates at COP30, making it the second largest COP in history, Carbon Brief reports.

The annual Conference of Parties is where signatories to the 1992 UN Treaty meet and negotiate on how to achieve the treaty's aim to fight climate change by limiting planet-warming carbon emissions. 

Marking 30 years of negotiations and the 10th anniversary of the monumental Paris Agreement, where 196 countries agreed to limit warming between 1.5C and 2C, COP30 is extra significant.

Countries' nationally determined contributions are expected, and determining how the $300 Billion from COP29 will be delivered is key.

Loss and Damage, adaptation, and just transition continue to be on the table, which is why many presume fossil fuel lobbyists are present.

But Faiesall argues, "a just transition demands a polluter-pay approach, a transparent adoption of the Conflict of Interest principle in UNFCCC processes, and granting a louder voice to those whose health and wellbeing are most affected, not those who perpetuate the global planetary crisis further. Get it right now, or fail us all."

For Saño, "we must be clear about who a 'just transition' is for. It is about protecting workers and frontline communities as we move to a new economy."

"It is not about protecting the profits of the polluters who caused the crisis. The fossil fuel industry has a history of co-opting this term to demand loopholes and subsidies for unproven 'false solutions' that prolong extraction. A just transition must be led by those most affected, not by the 1,600 lobbyists sent here to Belem to delay it," he said.  

COP30 is taking place in Belem until November 21. — GMA Integrated News