Increase in Fossil Fuel Industry Registrations at Climate Summit Quadruples Since Last Year, Reveals Watchdog Report

Over 2,400 individuals associated with the fossil fuel industry have registered to participate in the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, which is nearly four times the number of attendees compared to last year's gathering. This analysis was published on Tuesday and revealed that fossil fuel employees and representatives outnumber the delegations of almost every country, with the exception of the United Arab Emirates and Brazil, who are the host of COP28. This report was compiled by a coalition of corporate watchdog and climate advocacy groups, including Global Witness.

Attendance at the summit has surged in recent years, with over 80,000 people registered for the Dubai meeting - more than double the number from last year's summit in Egypt. The report was unable to determine the exact number of fossil fuel representatives in attendance, but it did show a consistent increase in registration numbers over the years.

These findings are expected to contribute to the already tense atmosphere at the controversial climate summit, where the future role of fossil fuels, the primary contributor to the climate crisis, is becoming a major point of contention.

Sultan Al Jaber, President of the COP28 climate summit, speaks at a presentation in Dubai on December 02, 2023.

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Climate summit leader defends controversial comments that alarmed scientists and sent shockwaves through meeting

During his opening remarks on Thursday, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who is also an oil executive, emphasized the importance of involving the fossil fuel industry in the summit. "Let history show that this presidency made a proactive decision to engage with oil and gas companies," he stated. CNN has reached out to the COP28 team for comment on this matter.

This year, the coalition known as Kick Big Polluters Out analyzed the provisional list of COP participants to identify individuals with self-declared connections to fossil fuel companies, organizations with fossil fuel interests, or foundations owned or controlled by a fossil fuel company. The analysis revealed a "unprecedented" 2,456 fossil fuel employees and representatives registered to attend COP28, which is significantly higher than the 636 who signed up for COP27 in Egypt in 2022.

The United Nations' decision in June to require fossil fuel lobbyists to disclose their affiliations when registering for the summit made this year's analysis easier. According to the research, fossil fuel employees and representatives received more passes to COP28 than all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined.

Lili Fuhr, the director of the fossil fuel energy program at the Center for International Environmental Law, stated that the climate conference is overwhelmed with a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists in the hallways and negotiating rooms.

She emphasized the need for governments to prioritize an outcome that promotes and requires a complete phase-out of fossil fuels, while also safeguarding public policy-making from the influence of fossil fuel interests. According to Fuhr, this is crucial to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and is the only viable option.

Amid resurfaced comments by Al Jaber ahead of COP28, concerns have been raised by scientists and advocacy groups about the summit's ambition levels. In a recorded panel session last month, Al Jaber stated that there was "no science" supporting the need to phase out fossil fuels to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, sparking renewed worries about the summit's direction. However, following the public scrutiny of his comments, Al Jaber defended his commitment to climate goals and science, emphasizing the inevitability and essential nature of phasing down and ultimately phasing out fossil fuels in a news conference on Monday.

Over the years, the number of employees and representatives from fossil fuel companies attending COP summits has been on the rise, as stated in the annual report. A report from KBPO in November revealed that attendees affiliated with fossil fuel companies have participated in COP summits at least 7,200 times in the past two decades.