2,456 lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry gained access to COP28 in Dubai last year. This year there are slightly fewer, but still at least 1,773 lobbyists. This means that more lobbyists are accredited to the meeting in Baku than there are delegates combined from the ten countries in the world most exposed to climate change. – Last year there were actually more lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry than there were official representatives from scientific institutions, indigenous communities and vulnerable nations combined, says chairman of EAT, Gunhild Stordalen. – We sent this letter after COP29 the president from Azerbaijan referred to oil and gas as “God’s gift”, and an official representative used the meeting to promote business agreements for fossil energy, says Gunhild Stordalen. Photo: Rickard L. Eriksson Big names in open letter She is one of 22 international names who have written an open letter to the UN and all countries that are part of the climate agreements. Among those who have signed are several well-known names: Former Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon Former EU Commissioner for Climate Connie Hedegaard Former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson In the letter they list 7 points where they believe it is necessary to change the way climate work is organised. Ban Ki-moon was Secretary-General of the UN 2007–2017. Photo: Afp Three oil nations in a row Last year the climate summit was held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This year it takes place in Baku in Azerbaijan and next year Belém in Brazil is the organiser. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev called oil “a gift from God” when he opened the climate summit. This means that the summit is organized and chaired by a major oil-producing country three years in a row. The three countries have also joined together and formed a “troika” to coordinate their work. – It is somewhat surprising that year after year you have an oil state hosting a climate summit, says Connie Hedegaard to DR. Connie Hedegaard at the climate summit in Doha in 2012 Photo: Ap Will refuse countries to host The first item on the list is new rules for who can host the summits. This is particularly important as the host country in practice also leads the world’s climate work in the year leading up to the meeting. – The heavy presence of lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry at the COP meetings is one of several reasons for the proposed changes, says Stordalen. She says that 132 senior managers from fossil fuel companies have received COP29 accreditation via the Azerbaijan presidency. – The negotiations are now moving further and further away from ambitious climate targets. This cannot continue – COP cannot be the fossil industry’s playground, says Stordalen. Summits on rotation Where the climate summits are held is determined by the UN according to a system where they rotate between the world’s continents. This year it was Eastern Europe’s turn, explains Cicero’s Christian Bjørnes on Linkedin. Because Russia vetoed a number of countries, only Azerbaijan and Armenia were relevant. And the choice thus fell on an Azerbaijan. In addition, the host country must offer a place with enough hotels and meeting places. With tens of thousands of visitors who must have hotel rooms and the like, it imposes limitations. Get support Gunhild Stordalen says that they have received overwhelmingly positive support after they wrote the open letter. – On the other hand, the reactions from the UN, national parties and NGOs were mixed. Some misinterpreted our reform proposal as a demand to wind up the COP process, which could not be further from the truth, she adds. – The fact that the meetings are held in major oil-producing countries is also a problem for the credibility of the negotiations, says Lars Haltbrekken. Photo: Milana Knezevic / news Lars Haltbrekken is a veteran of a number of climate summits. He is now in Baku as a member of the Storting’s Energy and Environment Committee for SV, while he has previously been a leader in the Nature Conservation Association. He says he completely agrees with the proposal about who should be allowed to lead the meetings. – The climate conferences should in future be added to countries that actively want to phase out fossil energy and achieve a dramatic reduction in the emissions that are creating a serious climate crisis, he says. Haltbrekken is supported by Venstre’s Ola Elvestuen, also a veteran of several climate summits. It is both right and important that the climate summits are added to countries that are ambitious and follow up on previous decisions and want to move forward, says Ola Elvestuen. Photo: Milana Knezevic / news – When we have so little time to cut emissions, when we have so little time to take care of nature, we also need the leadership at these meetings to be ambitious and want to create historic meetings that take great step forward, he says. Haltbrekken does not believe that it should be difficult to make an overview of which countries should be allowed to host the summits. – You know very well which countries support the phasing out of fossil energy and which do not. For the past three years, the climate summit has been organized in countries that do not support such a plan, he says. Published 21.11.2024, at 17.54
ttn-69
Climate summits demand that oil countries are not allowed to organize climate summits – news – Climate
