By Martin Banks

At least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the COP28 summit in Dubai, it has been claimed.

This, it is also alleged, “signals an unprecedented presence at crucial climate talks from representatives of some of the world’s biggest polluters.”

The claims are made in a new analysis from the “Kick Big Polluters Out” (KBPO) coalition.

It is claimed there has been an “explosion of fossil fuel lobbyists” heading to UN talks, with nearly four times more than were granted access last year.

This alleged uptick coincides, the campaigners also state, with a COP where “fossil fuels and their phaseout are a focal point.”

It also elevates the growing call from Global South countries, civil society and others to “eject polluters from the talks.”

A Kick Big Polluters Out coalition spokesman said, “There are significantly more fossil lobbyists granted access to COP28 than almost every country delegation – the 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists are only outnumbered by the 3,081 people brought by Brazil (which is expected to host COP30), and the UAE, which as COP28 host brought 4,409 people.”

“The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition analysed the provisional list of participants at COP28 line-by-line in the most in-depth study into the fossil fuel industry’s presence at any talks to date.”

The campaign claims that “fossil fuel lobbyists have received more passes to COP28 than all the delegates from the ten most climate vulnerable states.”

It also alleges that, “A vast number of fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the COP as part of a trade association. Nine out of the ten biggest of these groups came from the Global North.”

It goes on to state, “In a further sign that COP28 is being used by Big Polluters as an opportunity to advance a fossil-fuelled agenda at the expense of frontline communities, there are more than seven times the number of fossil fuel lobbyists permitted entry to the Dubai talks than official indigenous representatives (316).”

Responding to the findings, Alexia Leclercq, Start:Empowerment said: “Big Polluters’  presence has bogged us down for years, keeping us from advancing the pathways needed to keep fossil fuels in the ground. They are the reason COP28 is clouded in a fog of climate denial, not climate reality.”

Caroline Muturi, IBON Africa said “These findings tell us that the dynamics within these spaces remain fundamentally colonial. It comes as no surprise that the majority of the corporations influencing these talks are from the Global North. In years past COPs have become an avenue for many companies to greenwash their polluting businesses and foist dangerous distractions from real climate action. This hinders the meaningful participation of African communities and the rest of the Global South in shaping climate policies that will primarily affect them.”

Hwei Mian Lim, Women and Gender Constituency said, “If governments had required oil and gas groups to decarbonise from the outset in line with what science says is needed to limit climate change’s worse impacts, we would not be in our current state of all-out emergency. We are where we are because of years of denial, delay and false solutions from the very groups that are responsible for the problem.”