IETA int'l energy trading

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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oil-industry-bigwigs-given-platform-at-cop26-despite-organisers-claims/">https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oil-industry-bigwigs-given-platform-at-cop26-despite-organisers-claims/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><b>Oil industry bigwigs given platform at COP26 despite organisers’ claims</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Exclusive: UK government hosts said Big Oil companies wouldn’t be welcome, but BP’s CEO is among fossil fuel lobbyists at the heart of the conference</span></div><div>
</div><div>Adam Ramsay</div><div><b>2 November 2021, </b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The CEO of BP is among those from Big Oil speaking at COP26 | SOPA Images Limited/Alamy Stock Photo]</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Representatives of major oil companies including BP will be speaking at COP26, despite reassurances from organisers that they wouldn’t be welcome, </b>a programme from inside the venue reveals.</div><div>
</div><div>Last month, it was revealed that oil companies including BP were being excluded from official roles at COP26, with organisers casting doubt on the firms’ claimed ambitions to eliminate carbon emissions.</div><div>
</div><div>At the time, the exclusion was seen as a victory for environmental campaigners, who have long called for major polluters to be excluded from UN climate conferences.</div><div>
</div><div>However, a programme of events obtained by openDemocracy reveals that representatives of Big Oil have been allowed into the conference under the umbrella of a trade association that has a stall at the heart of COP26.</div><div>
</div><div>“These companies are the greatest perpetrators of the climate crisis, and none of them have committed to rapidly phase out their oil, gas and coal extraction in line with the 1.5°C target.<b> But BP and Chevron still get a platform</b> and the industry still gets access to influential decision-makers behind the scenes,” Jess Worth, a Culture Unstained co-director, told openDemocracy.</div><div>
</div><div>“While so many vital voices from frontline and Indigenous communities around the world have been excluded from the summit, this clearly demonstrates the injustice baked into the heart of the process,” she added.</div><div>
</div><div>BP and Chevron get a platform and the industry gets access to influential decision-makers</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The events are organised by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), which lists oil company Chevron and mining firm Rio Tinto among its partners.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Speakers hosted by the IETA include Bernard Looney, the chief executive of oil firm BP,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">who will take part in a ‘high level dialogue on business, human rights and the just transition’ along with Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and former UN commissioner for human rights.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last month, MPs criticised BP after openDemocracy revealed the <b>oil company had paid a firm founded by an ex-MI6 officer to snoop on climate activists.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>Norwegian oil company Equinor is also listed as a partner, while speakers include those from Malaysian oil company Petronas and Delta Air Lines, another major polluter.</div><div>
</div><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Another member of IETA, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), </span>i</b>s an umbrella body for energy companies in the US. Over the past decade, the EEI has been accused of holding back climate legislation in the US, including campaigning against distributed solar power, according to research by the investigative outlet Desmog.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Although the EEI officially acknowledges climate change as “one of the biggest energy and environmental policy challenges this country has ever faced”, in 2017, its then chair Tom Fanning denied the science of climate change in an interview with CNBC.</span></div><div>
</div><div>[COP26: How the UK started the climate crisis</div><div>8 October 2021 | Adam Ramsay]</div><div>
</div><div>Boris Johnson will soon take on the role of the bombastic host at the UN's climate conference in Glasgow. Don't let him pretend we’re the good guys</div><div><b>“The so-called business hub, the route by which BP, Chevron, Equinor, Rio Tinto and many other mega polluters have snuck into COP26, is really just a front for dodgy emission trading and offsetting schemes,” Mary Church, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said</b>.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“Market-based mechanisms like those promoted under the IETA's COP26 programme are a dangerous distraction from the real solutions to the climate crisis.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>A BP spokesperson told openDemocracy that “We’re not official participants, but there are a number of side events,” which it confirmed senior figures from the company would be speaking at.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Responding to criticism of the company’s approach to climate change, he said: “We’re very clear about what our net zero targets are.” He added that these include “targets we have set for 2025 and 2030: we’ve set out a very clear set of ambitions, aims and targets, and that’s what we’re focussed on delivering”.</span></div><div>
</div><div>The Edison Electric Institute, ITEA and Chevron did not respond to openDemocracy’s request for comment.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theferret.scot/1000-fossil-fuel-big-business-cop26/">https://theferret.scot/1000-fossil-fuel-big-business-cop26/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</b></div><div><b>Revealed: 1,000 fossil fuel and big business reps at COP26</b></div><div>Rob Edwards</div><div>November 6, 2021</div><div>
</div><div>Nearly 1,000 representatives from the fossil fuel industry, big business and nuclear power companies have registered to attend the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, according to an analysis by The Ferret.</div><div>
</div><div>They include executives from Shell, BP, Equinor, Chevron, Total, Gazprom and other major oil and gas companies, as well as multinational corporations such as McDonald’s, Bayer, Walmart, HSBC, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Microsoft.</div><div>
</div><div>There are also delegations from the coal industry, tobacco companies and pesticide manufacturers. Eleven people from two climate sceptic think-tanks have registered for the summit.</div><div>
</div><div>Subscribe to The Ferret</div><div>Campaigners are outraged that the oil and nuclear industries were being allowed to influence COP26, and called for polluters to be kept away from the summit. They warned of the “corporate capture of climate policies”.</div><div>
</div><div>But the industries argued that it was important to “hear first hand from decision-makers” what they needed to do to meet climate goals. Some companies were decarbonising faster than governments, they said.</div><div>
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</div><div>On 1 November the United Nations (UN) published a 1,616-page list of more than 39,000 people who have registered to attend COP26, which is due to end on 12 November. The Ferret examined the 11,734 non-governmental organisations that registered to come to Glasgow as official observers to the climate negotiations.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We found 233 people linked to the fossil fuel industry internationally. The biggest delegation was from the <b>International Emissions Trading Association (Ieta), which registered 103 people.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Ieta represents the carbon trading business, and its delegation included three executives from BP: Jeffrey Swartz, Ingrid Parramon and Nigel Dunn. There was also David Hone from Shell, two officials from the Norwegian oil company, Equinor, and people from six other oil firms.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Environmental groups argue that carbon trading is a “false solution” to the climate crisis because pollution cuts are not guaranteed. But Ieta says that “market-based approaches” could effectively deliver climate goals.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Other fossil fuel groups registered for COP26 were the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers and the World Coal Association, with two officials. There were executives from the US oil giant, Chevron, and France’s TotalEnergies. </span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Over 50 representatives from the oil and gas industry were part of four government delegations, with Russia’s including 20 from the fossil fuel funder, Sberbank, and nine from the state gas company, Gazprom. </b></div><div>
</div><div>Kuwait’s delegation included 11 people from oil companies and Japan’s five from a think tank run by Mitsubishi, whose bank has been criticised for funding fossil fuels. Two representatives in Canada’s group were executives from tar sands developer, Suncor.</div><div>
</div><div>The presence and access of these big polluters is in stark contrast with the exclusion of civil society, which draws into disrepute the legitimacy of these talks.</div><div>
</div><div>Scott Tully, Glasgow Calls Out Polluters</div><div>The Ferret’s analysis identified 492 representatives from major business organisations. The largest was from the International Chamber of Commerce, with 91 people, including executives from BP, Shell, McDonald’s, Mitsubishi, PepsiCo, British American Tobacco, Nestlé, Bayer and Amazon.</div><div>
</div><div>Oil companies were also part of the 64-strong delegation from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, as were the US tobacco company, Philip Morris, the US retailer, Walmart, and the German car manufacturer, BMW.</div><div>
</div><div>There were significant delegations registered from Japanese, German, Spanish, North American, Brazilian and Indian business federations. Others included those from steel companies, the chemical industry, mining firms, airlines and landowners.</div><div>
</div><div>As many as 141 people registered for COP26 from the nuclear power industry across the globe, including the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association and the World Nuclear Association. More than 20 were part of the Young Generation Network of nuclear professionals.</div><div>
</div><div>The nuclear industry promotes itself as a low-carbon solution to the climate crisis. But some environmentalists argue that it’s too expensive, unreliable and dangerous, compared to renewable energy.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Big business registered at COP26</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Tied to fossil fuel industry<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>233</div><div>Big business<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>492</div><div>Nuclear industry<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>141</div><div>Agribusiness<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>87</div><div>Carbon capture and storage<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>26</div><div>Climate sceptics<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>11</div><div>TOTAL<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>990</div><div>
</div><div>Source: COP26 Provisional List of Participants</div><div>
</div><div>Some 87 of those who registered for COP26 were from the food and agriculture industry. They included Croplife International, which represents multinational pesticide manufacturers, the International Fertiliser Association, which brings together 430 companies involved in plant nutrition, and farmers.</div><div>
</div><div>There were also 26 representatives from the carbon capture and storage industry, a controversial method of reducing emissions favoured by oil and gas companies. Two climate sceptic think tanks from the US are on the registration list, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, led by Myron Ebell, who worked for former US president, Donald Trump.</div><div>
</div><div>According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a total of 1,823 non-governmental organisations have registered as observers at COP26. As well as businesses, there are campaign groups, community groups, religious organisations, professional associations and many others.</div><div>
</div><div>This list is described as “provisional”, with a final version due to be issued after COP26 has closed. It does not include so-called “overflow” delegates which under UN rules can been added by countries without their names appearing on the official list of participants.</div><div>
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</div><div>Friends of the Earth Scotland called for polluters to be kept out of COP26. “Many different groups in society need to talk and work together to tackle the climate crisis,” said the environmental group’s director, Dr Richard Dixon.</div><div>
</div><div>“But the last people you want at the COP are the big oil firms who continue to profit from fuelling climate change and the nuclear, carbon capture and carbon market enthusiasts who are peddling solutions that are no solution at all.”</div><div>
</div><div>The campaign group, Glasgow Calls Out Polluters, decried “political failure” at COP26. “These big polluters’ climate plans are a death sentence for many, but they are nevertheless appeased by the authorities at the COP,” said the group’s Scott Tully from Glasgow.</div><div>
</div><div>“The presence and access of these big polluters is in stark contrast with the exclusion of civil society, which draws into disrepute the legitimacy of these talks.”</div><div>
</div><div>The anti-poverty charity, Oxfam Scotland, said it was “worrying” that those who have fuelled the climate crisis were given so much access. “Civil society groups, in particular from poorer countries in the south, have found it so hard to attend or even to observe the talks,” said the group’s head, Jamie Livingstone.</div><div>
</div><div>“Unless COP26 prioritises the voices of those facing the consequences of climate inaction, it will be impossible for the talks to deliver climate justice.”</div><div>
</div><div>Dr Will Dinan, an expert on lobbying from the University of Stirling, accused fossil fuel companies of lobbying to delay action to cut climate pollution. “Climate campaigners have long been concerned about corporate influence on UN environmental decision-making in general, and the corporate capture of climate policies in particular,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>Delivering the energy transition demands the active participation of all businesses, governments, and citizens. We are fully committed to playing our part.</div><div>
</div><div>Spokesperson, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers</div><div>The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers stressed that it supported the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change. “It’s important for energy industry actors to attend COPs as observers in order to hear first hand from decision-makers who set the ambition that they expect us to deliver,” said a spokesperson.</div><div>
</div><div>“Delivering the energy transition is a huge challenge, and demands the active participation of all businesses, governments, and citizens. We are fully committed to playing our part.”</div><div>
</div><div>BP said it supported the UK’s efforts to achieve COP26 goals. “We have had a very small number of people at the meeting to observe progress and take part in events on the sidelines of the conference,” a company spokesperson told The Ferret.</div><div>
</div><div>According to the International Chamber of Commerce, the “core negotiations” at COP26 were a matter for governments alone. “It’s plain wrong to suggest that business is directly involved in the critical path decision making that needs to happen at the conference to keep the world on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” said a spokesperson.</div><div>
</div><div>“Having business at COP26 is, however, a powerful way to keep the pressure on governments to commit to credible policies to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Many companies are already going further and faster than governments.” </div><div>
</div><div>Jonathan Cobb, the spokesperson for the World Nuclear Association, said: “There are business representatives for fossil fuels, and there are business representatives for nuclear, wind, solar, hydro and other low carbon generation. The second group will all need to be building new capacity on a much larger scale if we are to reach net-zero.”</div><div>
</div><div>This story was published in tandem with the Sunday Mirror.</div><div>
</div><div>Additional research by Rachel Tansey. Photo thanks to iStock/Urbanbuzz.</div><div>
</div><div>More like this</div><div>Why we are marching: the fight for climate justice</div><div>Fighting for a future: young people around the globe call for action on the climate</div><div>Shut out of COP26: disabled people call for their voices to heard</div><div>COP26 sponsors cause 350m tonnes of climate pollution</div><div>FFS explains: the A to Z of COP26</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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Secretary-General António Guterres has convened a climate summit this

week, which he hopes will spur ambitious action by countries around the

world. While the summit has laudably galvanized people, organizations,

and governments globally to gather in New York City, unfortunately,

Secretary-General Guterres and many others demanding urgent action are

missing critical pieces of the puzzle. No truly ambitious solutions or

actions can come to fruition when fossil fuel, agri-business, and other

polluting industries are at the table. The industries that have fueled

this crisis should have no part in dictating the solutions—rather, they

should be made to pay to address the massive damages they have caused

and to finance real solutions to the crisis.

</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Without these pieces of the puzzle in place, we know what we will get

at this summit: proposals that will set us firmly down the path of

increased global warming. For example, carbon markets and offsets are

sure to play a big role. These are false solutions that enable Big

Polluters to continue burning fossil fuels and devastating the earth

under the guise of climate action. This is particularly galling as the

Amazon burns and people in the Bahamas recover from the death and

destruction left by Hurricane Dorian.</font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2">

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is also galling because truly ambitious solutions are out there.

Communities from the frontlines of climate change—those who have done

the least to cause the crisis—have long proposed and advanced ambitious

and equitable ways to address this crisis. For example: keeping fossil

fuels in the ground, stopping deforestation, and implementing an

equitable transition to 100 percent renewable energy.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What countries need to be doing is bringing such people-driven

solutions to the climate summit. Just imagine what could happen if all

of the power and resources gathered in New York this week were focused

on the quickest and most equitable way to end fossil fuel extraction and

transition completely to renewable energy. That would be true ambition.</font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-4">

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This kind of ambition is exactly what people are demanding—and it

will only be possible when polluting industries are not obstructing the

process. For example, the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>International Emissions Trading Association

(IETA)—one of Big Polluters’</b> most prominent trade groups founded by BP

and includes Shell and Chevron</span> among its members—is <b>concurrently hosting

a two-day “carbon forum” promoting “business-driven climate solutions</b>.”

If government leaders and civil society groups were truly serious about

ambition, they would refuse to attend, knowing that such a forum is

designed to advance false solutions leading us to a world where warming

far exceeds safe limits.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In reality, these polluting industries, their front groups, and

governments representing their interests (like the U.S.) have spent more

than 20 years in the U.N. climate treaty process delaying, watering

down, and blocking solutions to effectively and equitably address

climate change. So it’s no surprise that they are doing the same this

week.</b></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And that’s why it’s vital that the movement to implement a

conflicts-of-interest policy in the U.N. climate treaty succeeds. But

removing the obstruction of Big Polluters and trade associations like

IETA from policymaking is just the first step toward ensuring true

climate solutions. Holding polluting industries liable for the damage

they have caused is just as vital.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Take the fossil fuel industry: Over the past few years, media exposés

have revealed that corporations like Exxon knew for decades that

burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change. The fossil fuel

industry then spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars

manufacturing doubt about the causes of climate change, discrediting

science, and buying political influence. It ensured decades of increased

emissions accompanied by stagnated climate policy.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There is a groundswell of support in the U.S. and beyond to make the

fossil fuel and other polluting industries pay for the damages they have

caused. Holding these industries liable can unlock hundreds of billions

of dollars to help finance the most ambitious, most equitable, and most

just solutions we have.</b></font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-10"> <div class="proper-ad-unit">

    <div id="proper-ad-alternet_content_2">  </div>

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Communities on the front lines of climate change did not cause the

crisis, but they are paying the highest price. They need and are owed

funding to implement real solutions that will actually turn the tide

toward a just response to this global crisis. The U.N. Secretary-General

and policymakers alike must wake up to the fact that polluting

industries and their backers should no longer be allowed to obstruct

climate justice. Rather, we must make them pay—and ensure those funds

are used to respond to damage already done and implement the solutions

we need to forge our way to a just, livable future for all.</font></p>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Patti Lynn is the executive director of <a href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/" target="_blank">Corporate Accountability</a></b>,

which stops transnational corporations from devastating democracy,

trampling human rights, and destroying our planet. Alongside

governmental and NGO allies, Corporate Accountability helped to rein in

Big Tobacco by ensuring the adoption of the 2003 UN Framework Convention

on Tobacco Control, the first legally binding treaty of the WHO. Patti

has been with the organization for over 20 years.</font></p>

</div>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/nnimmo-bassey" target="_blank">Nnimmo Bassey</a>

is director of an ecological think-tank, Health of Mother Earth

Foundation (HOMEF) and Coordinator of <b>Oilwatch International. </b>He chairs

the Board of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria,

an organization he co-founded and led as executive director from

1993-2013.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Executive-Summary_EN_webversionFINAL.pdf">https://www.corporateaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Executive-Summary</span>EN_webversionFINAL.pdf</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Industry groups stalk the halls of the UNFCCC</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this section, Corporate Accountability discusses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">one of the most egregious ways big polluting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">industries undermine climate policy: by walking the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">halls as “observers” to the UNFCCC negotiations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Currently, groups like th<b>e <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">U.S. Chamber of</span></b></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Commerce</b>, Business Europe, and the Business</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Council of Australia, </span>which have all undermined</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">climate action on behalf of their corporate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">members, have unfettered access to the climate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">talks. Such access allows for not only direct</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lobbying of delegates, but also for unparalleled</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">information gathering, as well as the greenwashing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of corporate images. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To address the myriad ways</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the presence of trade associations undermines</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the talks and to strengthen the implementation of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Paris Agreement, the authors resolve for the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UNFCCC to adopt a standard definition of conflict</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of interest and implement a binding conflict of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">interest policy to help reveal and limit undue</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporate influence via observer participation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carbon majors masquerading as part of the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tech solution</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmentally sound technologies, such as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">renewable energy and local innovations, will play</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an essential role in mitigating and adapting to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">climate change. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While there is a mechanism in</span></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">the UNFCCC to accelerate development, transfer,</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">and deployment of climate technologies to Global</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">South countries, this mechanism has been coopted</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Big Polluters, from Électricité de France</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and <b>Shell</b> to the World Coal Association</span>. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Neth</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daño of the ETC Group explains, this cooptation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prevents the Technology Mechanism from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">providing sound information and technical advice.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead it allows polluting corporations to project</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an image of being part of the solution while at the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">same time continuing to operate businesses that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are primarily responsible for the climate crisis. The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UNFCCC should not allow industry involvement</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to compromise this transfer. Instead, as Daño</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">recommends, the Secretariat should fully evaluate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the environmental, social, and economic impacts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of climate technologies and ensure that the nonState</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">actors invited to take part in technology</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">development, transfer, and deployment do not</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">introduce potential conflicts of interest.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Article 6 and the invisible hand of carbon chaos</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Markets are often portrayed as a magical solution</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to environmental pollution. Yet study after study</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reveals that carbon markets not only fail to reduce</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">emissions but create new problems as well.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Article 6, which may provide incentives to set</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">up and expand carbon markets, could very well</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">make matters worse—providing opportunities for</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big Polluters to continue to pollute egregiously</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">without consequence and distracting attention</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from real solutions. <b>Not surprisingly, trade groups</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>and corporations have promoted these markets</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>and affiliated individuals have even found a place</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>at the negotiating table. This is unacceptable.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this section, Corporate Accountability calls for</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">governments to create binding regulations that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">require polluting corporations to drastically reduce</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">emissions and reject carbon markets.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The corrupting influence of corporations’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COP sponsorships</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For almost as long as the UNFCCC has existed, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">very same transnational corporations whose profits</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">depend on the burning of oil, coal, and gas have</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">been permitted to bankroll the U.N. climate talks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this section, Corporate Europe Observatory’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pascoe Sabido makes the case for eliminating the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporate sponsorship of international climate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">negotiations. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Sabido outlines, transnational</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporations use the access to the UNFCCC that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sponsorship buys them to undermine progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and push false solutions (like failed carbon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trading or carbon capture and storage schemes).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While addressing sponsorship alone will not fully</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eliminate corporate influence at the COPs, it</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">would chip away at the green and blue façades</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big Polluters have erected. It would also provide</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">space for an honest conversation on what role</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big Polluters should have in solving a crisis that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">they continue to profit from. Sabido concludes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with a call for a policy to reject sponsorship from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporations whose interests are in conflict with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the objectives of the UNFCCC and for COPs to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">instead be financed equitably by member states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fighting corporate interests in the</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Green Climate Fund</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Debt and Development discusses in this section...</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's been a summer of catastrophic weather events: monsoons in India and Bangladesh, hurricanes in the Caribbean and the U.S. Southeast, and wildfires across the U.S. West. The impacts of climate change are killing people and destroying communities, and we need bold action on climate policy, now. But as delegates from around the world head to <a href="https://www.cop-23.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">COP23</a>, the annual meeting of the U.N. climate treaty, Corporate Accountability's new report exposes just how big a threat corporate capture poses to securing bold and visionary climate policy.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>"<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.corporateaccountability.org/pollutingparis&source=gmail&ust=1510072100136000&usg=AFQjCNF0ztprF8qAas03O5gDs_z7H6UPSg" href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/pollutingparis" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Polluting Paris: How Big Polluters are Undermining Global Climate Policy</a>" is a first-of-its-kind assessment of corporate capture in the history of the U.N. climate treaty (formally known as the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change)</b>. It finds that transnational corporations, and the governments in their pockets, are pushing a pro-industry, anti-regulation agenda.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> As a result, a menu of false solutions are front and center in the treaty negotiations where delegates hope to hammer out the details in implementing the Paris Agreement over the next weeks. </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, corporate influence has tilted the negotiations toward market-oriented trading mechanisms that benefit the industry groups and corporations supporting them. Meanwhile, non-market solutions like direct finance and binding emissions reductions—solutions backed by evidence proving their effectiveness—have been pushed to the back burner. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The release of this report provides support for and bolsters the work of government delegates from across the Global South who are advocating for true, people-centered solutions to climate change. It was written in collaboration with the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.apmdd.org/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100136000&usg=AFQjCNF9K-N5xdgu9pP5Yyg3dCvnYrH3Sw" href="https://www.apmdd.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//corporateeurope.org/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100136000&usg=AFQjCNEF-zIYqKuHsu6eQghH4W9ziIW19Q" href="https://corporateeurope.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Corporate Europe Observatory</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//etcgroup.org/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100136000&usg=AFQjCNGneMZ9u0B4ZOxNFeSZbpZt_1d0Cg" href="https://etcgroup.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group)</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//actionaid.org/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100136000&usg=AFQjCNEuhXtYrNTnsvggEiJPpFxLrmzLiQ" href="https://actionaid.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ActionAid International</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>U.S., EU and trade associations push fossil fuel agenda </strong></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an unsurprising twist, the report also reveals that many global north governments—with Donald Trump and the U. S. front and center—are acting at the behest of the fossil fuel and other polluting industries to undermine progress. The Trump administration <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://thinkprogress.org/dirty-deputies-fill-trump-administration-9e78a260e62b/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNGf6kVa5Q2rytjXnwl2xj8BzJP9Uw" href="https://thinkprogress.org/dirty-deputies-fill-trump-administration-9e78a260e62b/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">has unprecedented ties to the fossil fuel industry</a>. Many of Trump's appointees <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/13/15789772/trumps-fossil-fuel-all-stars&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNHJUKwHRTJ-EJsPdcB788lH6wstZg" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/13/15789772/trumps-fossil-fuel-all-stars" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">used to work on behalf</a> of oil, coal and gas industries, while many more <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2017/04/trump-teams-heavy-energy-ties-219658&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNEZa-PN-W-k-GHBmgkFsbH30yDBaA" href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2017/04/trump-teams-heavy-energy-ties-219658" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">are either deeply invested in the industry</a> or claim to doubt the settled science of climate change. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, “Polluting Paris” is the latest report in a growing <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.climatechangenews.com/2017/10/23/un-shipping-climate-talks-captured-industry/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNGniTLBlVQbxO2uPUq4sM29zIF63g" href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/10/23/un-shipping-climate-talks-captured-industry/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">body of evidence</a> that clearly shows corporate interference—often <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://corporateeurope.org/climate-and-energy/2017/10/great-gas-lock&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFNwjEhZlFpk-OArUuhprV0hjTK8Q" href="https://corporateeurope.org/climate-and-energy/2017/10/great-gas-lock" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">orchestrated by corporate lobbyists, industry groups, and Global North governments</a>—is one of the primary obstacles to climate progress.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Additionally, the report exposes the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> influence of trade associations</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> like the<b style=""> International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. IETA's </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.ieta.org/Industry-Energy-%26-Power&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFk83josqTMFD2T31VHwKgdmEvtUw" href="https://www.ieta.org/Industry-Energy-&-Power" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none;">members include</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> oil giants BP and Chevron, and coal corporations BHP Biliton, Duke Energy and Rio Tinto. The trade group has insinuated itself so far into the talks, one of its </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=//www.ieta.org/Governance&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNGGP5qGp75SYifsrNVfwoZlyCOdLg" href="https://www.ieta.org/Governance" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none;">own board members negotiates on behalf of Panama</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and is a co-coordinator on market mechanisms for the largest negotiating bloc at the U.N. climate treaty.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If we don’t put an end to it now, lobbyists and delegates representing industry interests will ensure the Paris Agreement promotes—rather than protects against—the money-making schemes of the world’s biggest polluters," said Tamar Lawrence-Samuel, international policy director at Corporate Accountability.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Kicking big polluters out </strong></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Accountability is organizing to put an end to it. A team of organizers and experts from Corporate Accountability are at the negotiations to support governments committed to curbing corporate capture of global climate policy. People across the U.S. can also <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.corporateaccountability.org/get-involved/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFr-GWjb0DNuQgL6IHh8nenh4wIIw" href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/get-involved/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">take action</a> to support this call. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Accountability's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.corporateaccountability.org/climate/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNGu4BA_nqHBVtP_Kx9vQojeIiizxQ" href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/climate/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate campaign</a> builds on a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.corporateaccountability.org/who-we-are/history/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFFezk8XxLgRszp4LsnWgcdKDLuyg" href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/who-we-are/history/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">40-year history</a> of successfully moving transnational corporations to end their abuses. In the early 2000s, we supported governments and allies in the Global South to protect the World Health Organization’s global tobacco treaty from Big Tobacco’s influence and remove the industry from public health policymaking. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The initiative to kick Big Polluters out of climate policy builds on the precedence set by that treaty.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b>Download the <a href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/resources/polluting-paris-big-polluters-undermining-global-climate-policy/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">full report</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/resources/executive-summary-polluting-paris-how-big-polluters-are-undermining-global-climate-policy/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">executive summary</a>.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it's gaining great traction globally. In May 2017, the issue of corporate influence in the climate talks <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/climate/corporations-global-climate-talks-bonn-germany.html?mcubz%3D1%26_r%3D0&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNGq2u4APkwPuU1LREhToypLg8nwNg" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/climate/corporations-global-climate-talks-bonn-germany.html?mcubz=1&r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">captured international attention</a> at the treaty meetings. The meeting culminated in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.corporateaccountability.org/blog/conflict-of-interest-takes-top-billing-at-bonn/&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFAUc9FPCesBy39JtNnxgCwniTf8A" href="https://www.corporateaccountability.org/blog/conflict-of-interest-takes-top-billing-at-bonn/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">calls from governments</a> for a conflict of interest policy. And just last month,<b> the European Parliament <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.desmog.uk/2017/10/04/european-parliament-say-no-fossil-fuel-lobbying-international-climate-talks&source=gmail&ust=1510072100137000&usg=AFQjCNFWwYagHB9HNFIJv1V4nsvg9W12Zw" href="https://www.desmog.uk/2017/10/04/european-parliament-say-no-fossil-fuel-lobbying-international-climate-talks" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">called for its negotiators to prioritize addressing the harmful influence of polluting industry interests</a> at COP23 [bonn?]</b>. While the European Council ultimately overlooked that call, we expect governments to take up the issue again at the next intersessional talks in May 2018. </font></p><div wibbitz="embed-main-player" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="bio-new body_environment" style="width: 630px; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top: 3px solid rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="author-bio"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kelle Louaillier is the president of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://stopcorporateabuse.org/&source=gmail&ust=1484156677336000&usg=AFQjCNEYbidcr-ZRZPWGmEnXrN44ytzt4Q" href="http://stopcorporateabuse.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Corporate Accountability</a>.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div></div>