Climate Researcher and Environmental Editor Arul Karki has launched a petition calling for countries to appoint no fossil fuel industry employees, lobbyists or consultants to delegations attending COP31 in Türkiye.
Speaking to Channel Africa this week, Karki said communities across the Global South were already experiencing severe climate impacts but remained underrepresented in negotiations shaping international climate policy. “The Global South, particularly regions like South Asia and the African continent, experience the brutal daily realities of climate change,” Karki said.
“Yet in the very United Nations (UN) negotiation rooms where solutions are supposed to be forged, the voices of the most vulnerable are drowned out by corporate power.”
Karki said more than 1 600 fossil fuel lobbyists attended COP30 in Brazil, arguing that extensive industry participation weakened efforts to secure stronger commitments on reducing fossil fuel use. “The sheer volume of industry presence directly waters down climate agreements,” Karki said.
Karki accused companies of promoting carbon capture and storage to prolong coal, oil and gas production instead of redirecting investment towards renewable energy. The industry maintains that expertise from energy companies is necessary for managing a practical transition.
Karki acknowledged that developing economies faced difficult choices because many depended on fossil fuels for energy, employment and government revenue.
However, Karki drew a distinction between industry participation in the energy transition and involvement in writing international rules governing the same companies. “There is a massive difference between operating within the global economy and sitting at the negotiating table to draft international laws that regulate your own industry,” Karki said.
The campaign is calling for full disclosure of delegates’ professional backgrounds and financial links, alongside a prohibition on fossil fuel representatives joining official national delegations. “There must be absolute transparency regarding the financial ties and backgrounds of all delegates,” Karki said.
Karki urged the African Union, South Asian countries and other climate-vulnerable states to campaign jointly for stricter accountability rules under the UN climate process. “Only by standing together as the Global South can we break this corporate dominance,” Karki said.
–ChannelAfrica–
