Canadian oil and gas lobbyists flock to UN climate negotiations

Fossil fuel lobbyists have infiltrated the annual UN climate change negotiations, with Canadian oil and gas representatives significantly represented, an analysis of the official preliminary guest list reveals.

This year at least 32 Canadian representatives linked to fossil fuels are in Azerbaijan for the summit called COP29. The individuals represent the usual suspects — companies like Enbridge and Suncor, alongside lobby groups like the Pathways Alliance, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and First Nations LNG Alliance, as well as gas utilities like ATCO. The total number of identified oil and gas officials is lower than the 65 who attended last year’s conference in the United Arab Emirates, but is roughly proportional, given this year’s summit has significantly fewer people overall. Baku is hosting about 50,000 participants — half as many as last year.

The persistent presence of fossil fuel representatives attending climate change negotiations has climate advocates deeply concerned given that the goal, at least on paper, is to dramatically slash emissions. Following years of oil and gas companies using their influence to slow climate action, advocates say it’s time to kick them out of the process. 

On the ground in Azerbaijan is Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada. She told Canada’s National Observer fossil fuel lobbyists have long had a “chokehold” on international climate diplomacy, which is one of the key reasons why countries have struggled to transition off fossil fuels. She says it's time to “free COPs from the influence of big polluters” by barring them from future summits using a conflict-of-interest policy.

“And we need the Canadian provinces who have provided accreditation to oil and gas lobbyists to recognize that the industry is only here to protect its profits, at the expense of people and the planet,” she said.

The federal government does not choose who attends as part of Canada’s official guest list. Instead, Ottawa reserves space for Indigenous groups, youth, civil society, businesses, provinces and territories as part of its delegation. Those groups decide who attends.

A spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said the delegation is diverse because the government takes a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to climate change. 

“The Government of Canada is not paying the way for any companies to be here,” the spokesperson said. “I can assure you that, unlike Pierre Poilievre who is in the pocket of big oil companies, they haven’t prevented us from bringing forward ambitious regulations to cut pollution in the oil and gas sector.”

This year’s summit involves countries negotiating how to pay for climate action, how international carbon offset trading should work, and building on last year’s historic decision to — finally, after nearly 30 summits — agree to transition off fossil fuels. But expectations are low because of how Azerbaijan is running the summit, insiders say. 

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev kicked off COP29 with a fiery speech, criticizing “Western fake news” on greenhouse gas emissions, and calling oil and gas a “gift of God.” Separately, days before the conference began, Azeri COP29 chief executive Elnur Soltanov was caught on video telling an undercover activist from Global Witness, posing as a representative from a fossil fuel company, that it would be developing oil and gas “perhaps forever.”

Hosts of UN climate summits typically use the opportunity to highlight green investments and the importance of pulling off the monumental energy transition. Even if the host country is a major fossil fuel producer, like last year where the United Arab Emirates was revealed to be using the summit to cut new oil and gas deals on the sidelines, usually the host is looking to downplay its fossil fuel interests.

The battle playing out at UN climate negotiations is fundamentally over the timeline to transition off fossil fuels. Scientists are clear that global emissions should be cut in half by 2030 to avoid crossing dangerous warming thresholds. But that consensus is often undermined by fossil fuel companies and their allies who argue a slower transition is more realistic, while at the same time promoting increased oil and gas production. 

“We've had the fossil fuel companies come and testify [at committee and] they tell us they don't believe that they're accountable in any capacity for the damage that they're doing,” NDP MP Charlie Angus said in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer. 

“These are not good corporate citizens. They've made it clear they have no intention of stepping up. So why are they there?” he asked. 

The significant presence of fossil fuel-connected participants at COP29 shows Canada is “betting that the future lies in burning the planet,” Angus said. 

Influence peddling

Since last year’s summit — where countries agreed to transition off fossil fuels — oil and gas companies have gone on the offensive, according to InfluenceMap. Over the past year, the think tank tracked more than 100 fossil fuel companies and industry associations to uncover how they’re trying to derail climate action. It identified 2,400 instances where companies and industry associations advanced anti-transition narratives. 

Pushing narratives that cast doubt on clean solutions while trying to shift the focus to affordability and energy security, instead of climate change, is a key part of their strategy, according to the think tank. One example came earlier this year when Timothy Egan, the head of the Canadian Gas Association, told a right-wing summit in Hungary the energy transition away from fossil fuels is driven by an extreme “cult-like” ideological mission. Egan, whose organization represents major gas companies including Enbridge, TC Energy, FortisBC and others, is part of the Canadian delegation at COP29. 

Dr. Joe Vipond, a Calgary-based emergency doctor and past-president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is in Azerbaijan keeping tabs on the oil and gas industry. Outside of the negotiating rooms, COP29 is packed with pavilions where countries, organizations, and others promote their efforts to respond to climate change. 

But not every pavilion is credible, Vipond said, pointing to that run by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an oil cartel. Last year as countries were negotiating the need to phase out oil and gas, OPEC explicitly tried to derail the negotiations when it called on its member countries to reject any agreement that explicitly named fossil fuels. 

“It exemplifies the greenwashing that’s happening at COP, that organizations such as OPEC are here trying to influence the negotiations,” Vipond said. “I for one think they should be treated like cigarette companies, and not be a part of the engagements that lead to the decrease of the use of their toxic products.”

“One of the things these events need is some robust controls over who is able to come,” he said. 

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said in a phone interview with Canada’s National Observer there is a limited number of COP badges for delegates, and argued they should be given to people who want climate action, not perpetrators of the climate crisis. May and Green MP Mike Morrice opted not to attend COP29 in person because of Azerbaijan’s recent ethnic cleansing of Armenians.

May doesn’t think fossil fuel lobbyists are having a significant influence on the Canadian government’s position while abroad — but rather that industry influence is already “baked in” to Canada’s climate policy, as evidenced by policy decisions like adopting a net-zero by 2050 target to avoid upsetting the oilpatch.

“[Oil companies are] there to report back to their CEOs and headquarters where they think they can make progress with other countries. They're much more likely to be in the hallways trying to do deals with developing countries, trying to stop things from moving ahead, trying to blunt language where they can,” explained May, who has attended 14 COPs.

“What they're doing is likely trying to greenwash their brand by showing up at a climate conference, hosting events, splashing money around in an effort to improve their image and slow down the negotiations.”

Regardless, having a lot of fossil fuel groups at these climate negotiations looks bad to casual observers and can lead to the harmful perception that climate COPs “don't accomplish anything,” May said, adding that the negotiations “accomplish too little — but without them, we'd be in worse shape.”

Other sectors

Other than fossil fuels, a key topic under debate at COP29 is finance — how to pay for emission reductions, adapt to warming already locked in, and compensate vulnerable countries for the climate induced damages they already experience. Experts say the financial need is in the trillions of dollars each year, and while Canada has yet to take a formal position on what the overall financing target should be, it has argued that the only way to deploy the level of capital needed is by involving the private sector. 

Canada’s National Observer identified at least 22 representatives from the financial industry, representing pension funds like Canada Pension Plan and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, as well as private capital firms. 

Among Canada’s delegation there is also significant representation (25 individuals) from Indigenous groups, including the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council, Manitoba Métis Federation, Inuit Circumpolar Council, and others. 

Participants from mining, labour and nuclear organizations are also present, albeit in smaller numbers. The list includes at least seven labour representatives from groups including the Canadian Labour Congress, Unifor and Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. 

Participants from companies Vale, Rio Tinto Alcan and ArcelorMittal Exploitation Minière Canada were among nine mining linked representatives on the delegation list.

Canada’s 10-person nuclear contingent includes six AtkinsRéalis representatives, one of which is president of nuclear Joseph Michael St.Julian. AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC-Lavalin) is an engineering firm with “over 70 years’ of global nuclear expertise,” according to its website. It currently operates and manages government nuclear research sites including radioactive waste management at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario and SMR development.

“It is a massively powerful industry. It's catnip in Canada for the Liberals and Conservatives,” Angus said. “They're there to strike deals, they're there to make money, and they're not there, again, as part of the solution.”

Angus was quick to note the high cost of nuclear power and the yet to be solved problem of how to deal with the radioactive waste it generates. One of the biggest criticisms of nuclear power is the high cost of building power plants and new technology like SMRs, but governments, including Canada, are looking to nuclear power and SMRs as an emissions free power source.