When you imagine climate diplomacy in action, you might think of tireless negotiators and scientists huddled around a table, working late into the night on difficult compromises in pursuit of something existential.
Climate diplomacy, we are told, is where people come together to solve the climate crisis. But that vision is increasingly at odds with reality. Troublingly, fossil fuel firms and other powerful interests have a growing influence at global climate talks.
More than 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to last year’s COP29, the 29th annual conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Azerbaijan – more than the combined delegations of the ten most climate-vulnerable countries. The year before, the state oil firm of the host country, the United Arab Emirates, reportedly used COP28 to pursue fossil fuel deals.
