As the EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra prepares for his hearing in the European Parliament to reprise his role for the next five years, more than a hundred civil society organisations have written to ask him not to bring fossil fuel lobbyists to the UN climate talks as part of the EU delegation.
The presence of fossil fuel lobbyists on the bloc’s delegation at COP29 would raise serious concerns about its climate credentials, as well as Hoeksta’s own, given his controversial past and his current role leading the delegation.
At last year’s climate negotiations, COP28, the EU and its member states brought more than 130 fossil fuel lobbyists, according to research by the Kick Big Polluters Out campaign. Hoekstra’s team brought in senior executives from Eni and BP, as well as ExxonMobil’s chief lobbyist in Brussels.
Campaigners want this year’s climate talks in Baku to commit to a fast, fair, full and funded phase-out of fossil fuels, but there are legitimate fears that oil and gas lobbyists will block these efforts in order to protect their profits.
In the letter to Commissioner Hoekstra, the organisations raised strong concerns over the dominance of the fossil fuel industry’s voice in discussions to halt global heating and demanded Hoekstra support measures that protect decision-making from the influence of the oil and gas industry, as happens with the tobacco industry on health policy.
“Bringing fossil fuel lobbyists to COP29 is like inviting the tobacco industry to a conference on public health. It’s a blatant conflict of interest that undermines the integrity of climate talks. There is no space for polluters at climate talks, which is why we need a firewall as we have for tobacco.” said Nathan Stewart, Fossil Free Politics coordinator.
The letter, coordinated by the Fossil Free Politics campaign from 112 organisations in Europe and around the world, calls for fossil fuel lobbyists to be treated similarly to tobacco lobbyists, who are banned from the delegations of countries that have signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This includes the European Commission and all EU member states.
A similar message is being passed to national-level ministers in 9 countries across Europe, with groups calling on them to not bring fossil fuel lobbyists to COP29.
On Thursday, 7 November, Commissioner Hoekstra will appear before the European Parliament to be grilled by MEPs on his suitability to keep his job for the next five years. This is a crucial opportunity for MEPs to get commitments from him to protect EU and UN climate policy from undue industry influence.
Pascoe Sabido, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner, concludes: “We can’t afford a repeat of last year’s mistakes. MEPs must secure a clear commitment from Commissioner Hoekstra to keep fossil fuel lobbyists out of COP29. Anything less jeopardises the credibility of the EU’s role in tackling the climate crisis.”
More than 64,000 people across Europe have already called on the EU to implement a firewall between the fossil fuel industry and decision makers, like it has done for tobacco lobbyists. WeMove Europe, who coordinated the petition with Fossil Free Politics, has asked everyone who signed the initial petition to email Hoekstra and his cabinet to tell him not to take fossil fuel lobbyists to COP29.