COP21 powered by fossil fuels?

PARIS, France – Two reports of non-governmental organizations reveal that corporate sponsors of the 21st United Nations climate change conference (COP21) are involved in fossil fuel exploration, while 4 major sponsors are collectively responsible for more than 200 megatons of carbon dioxide (C02) emissions worldwide. 

The Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) report, “Lobby Planet Paris: A guide to corporate COP21,” says that 12 corporate sponsors of the ongoing climate talks here in Paris have been involved in fossil fuels or lobbying against pollution controls and other environment-unfriendly practices. (READ: A disastrous climate deal that will see the planet burn)

In a statement, TNI said, “The UN climate talks are a ‘greenwashing’ heaven: Companies spend lavishly to invent dramatic examples of their stellar climate performances, to claim the most virtuous social practices, and to increase their profits.”

A separate report released Monday by Corporate Accountability International highlights that 4 of the leading sponsors of this year’s UN climate negotiations are the biggest carbon emitters in the industry.

The report, “Fueling the Fire – The corporate sponsors bankrolling COP21,” reveals how European energy giants Engie, EDF, Suez Environnement, and BNP Paribas collectively own more than 46 coal-fired power plants around the world, including investments in oil sands exploration in Canada and fracking for shale gas in the UK.

 Patti Lynn, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability International, noted that the decision to allow these large polluters to sponsor the conference is “akin to hiring a fox to guard a hen house.”

‘Kick fossil fuels’

The report also calls for future climate policy-making to be free of corporate interests by directly disallowing large contributors to climate change from the policy-making process, in a similar way that big tobacco was kicked out of health talks a decade ago.

The two reports came about as movements to keep fossil fuel companies from COP21 started snowballing a few months before the crucial climate negotiations in Paris.

In May, more than 60 organizations launched a global campaign to do just that. The campaign, which moved to kick big polluters out of climate policy, has more than half a million signatories, so far. Climate activists and advocates have also staged lightning protests in the COP21 venue in the past few days. – Rappler.com

Jed Alegado is a student of the Erasmus University Rotterdam-International Institute of Social Studies (EUR-ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands. He is also one of the climate trackers for Adopt A Negotiator (http://www.adoptanegotiator.org)