*Activists kick over the growing influence of the fossil fuel sector at UN COP27.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog said that Israel is willing to lead the regional fight against climate change, adding that Israel is strongly committed to moving over to renewable energy.
Speaking at the UN COP27 climate conference in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh on Monday, President Herzog called for cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors to achieve a renewed Middle East.
He said that “This state of emergency demands we work together. Not tomorrow – today. Let us turn the climate emergency into an opportunity to address 20th-century conflicts, thereby advancing desperately needed 21st-century collaborations.
"Let us leverage vital regional partnerships as a path towards inclusivity, stability, and prosperity, to form this shared, renewable Middle East.”
President Isaac Herzog, Image:AP
Herzog said Israel is already cooperating with its neighbors in the environmental sector as evidenced in an agreement brokered by the UAE last year which requires Israel to supply desalinated water to Jordan in exchange for solar energy.
According to Honest Reporting, Herzog, in addition, emphasized Israel’s plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a proposal that was first put forward by then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at last year's climate conference.
"Here, in Sharm e-Sheikh, I wish to reiterate the State of Israel’s solid commitments to achieving net zero carbon emissions and to transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy by 2050, ” President Herzog said.
Earlier, Herzog inaugurated the Israeli pavilion, the first ever to be set up at the UN climate conference. The last time an Israeli pavilion appeared on Egyptian soil was at a business conference in 1985, Honest Reporting said.
The growing influence of the fossil fuel industry.
Meanwhile, activists are complaining that the number of fossil fuel lobbyists registered to the COP27 is larger than the delegation of any African country.
According to researchers, at least 636 fossil industry lobbyists have been registered for the climate talks, representing an increase of more than 25% from the COP26 held in Glasgow last year.
They calculated the number of people who registered and are either directly connected to fossil fuel companies like Shell, Chevron, and BP or who are in attendance as representatives of the fossil fuel industry.
The extent to which corporate actors with a stake in the continued burning of fossil fuels have been enjoying access to these crucial discussions is revealed by data analysis of the UN's provisional list of named attendees conducted by Corporate Accountability, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), and Global Witness (GW).
The figure demonstrates the growing influence of the fossil fuel sector in the climate negotiations, which are already dogged by allegations of corporate control and repression of civil society.
The discoveries are fueling a rising global movement to protect the talks from polluter meddling.
Findings
*The data reveals a growing influence of oil and gas at COP.
*Over 25% more fossil fuel lobbyists than that at COP26, held in Glasgow last year, with 636 lobbyists registered for COP27.
*More fossil fuel lobbyists than any single country delegation, excluding the UAE, which had 1,070 delegates registered, up from 176 last year. This year, 70 members of their delegation are classified as lobbyists for fossil fuels.
*Though it is called the "African COP," it has registered more fossil fuel lobbyists than any country delegation from the continent of Africa.
*There are lobbyists for fossil fuels in the national delegations of 29 different countries. Russia has 33, which is the second-most after the UAE.
*According to GermanWatch, there are more fossil fuel lobbyists registered than representatives of the ten nations that are most adversely affected by climate change: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Myanmar, Haiti, the Philippines, Mozambique, The Bahamas, Nepal, and Puerto Rico.
Activists reaction
As a result of prohibitive expenses, difficulties obtaining visas, and repressive measures by the hosting country, activists from the Global South, indigenous groups, and others who are disproportionately suffering from the effects of climate change are effectively excluded from the talks.
A spokesperson for the groups said: “With time running out to avert climate disaster, major talks like COP27 absolutely must advance concrete action to stop the toxic practices of the fossil fuel industry that is causing more damage to the climate than any other industry.
“The extraordinary presence of this industry’s lobbyists at these talks is, therefore, a twisted joke at the expense of both people and planet.
“This comes at a time when people all around the world are suffering from financial strains caused by high energy prices and millions more from the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis.
“Rather than being the start of the real climate action needed, COP27 looks set to be a festival of fossil fuels and their polluting friends, buoyed by recent bumper profits.
“Tobacco lobbyists wouldn’t be welcome at health conferences, arms dealers can’t promote their trade at peace conventions.
“Those perpetuating the world’s fossil fuel addiction should not be allowed through the doors of a climate conference.
“It’s time governments got out of the pockets of polluters, come to their senses and help make COP27 the success the world vitally needs it to be.”
These new findings add to requests that have been made in previous years to safeguard the integrity of the UN's climate negotiations by establishing unambiguous conflict of interest laws.
The resolution of these conflicts of interest has recently been demanded by nations that jointly account for about 70% of the global population.
Phillip Jakpor of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, said: “There’s been a lot of lip service paid to this being the so-called African COP.
“But how are you going to address the dire climate impacts on the continent, when the fossil fuel delegation is larger than that of any African country?
“More than 450 organizations around the world are calling on world governments to do what they should have done from day one.
“It’s time to kick Big Polluters out! No more writing the rules or bankrolling the climate talks. ”
A large coalition, including those involved in the analysis, is calling on the UNFCCC and nations to finally ban major polluters from climate talks and demanding an accountability structure that explicitly excludes organizations with financial or other stakes in the extraction or burning of fossil fuels.
Environment
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