UNFCCC requires Cop attendees to disclose affiliations

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will require participants of its events to disclose their affiliations — which will be publicly listed — in an effort to "increase the transparency of participation in the UN climate change process", the organisation said.

It will apply to all participants at UNFCCC conferences, from the UN Cop 28 climate summit — set to start in November in Dubai — onwards. Cops are the main UNFCCC events, along with subsidiary body (SB) meetings which typically take place in May or June.

The UNFCCC will ask participants to disclose information including "any paid relationship or contract with the nominating entity", or any partnership or unpaid advisory work with the nominating entity. The information will be publicly available on the participant list. The UNFCCC has also expanded the scope of the list, which will now cover all participants. Participants can choose not to disclose the information, but it will be listed as "declined to disclose", the UNFCCC said.

The number of delegates attending UNFCCC "has been steadily increasing and the purpose of participation has diversified, with many activities going on in parallel with the core negotiation meetings", the UNFCCC said. "Yet there has not been full transparency in terms of who is participating in these climate change conferences", it added.

Cop 27, which took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022, had over 35,000 participants. The recent Bonn SB climate conference had over 4,800, the UNFCCC said.

Analysis from campaign groups Corporate Accountability, Global Witness and Corporate Europe Observatory found that 636 fossil fuel lobbyists registered for Cop 27. The groups defined fossil fuel lobbyists as individuals either "directly affiliated with fossil fuel corporations… or attending as members of delegations that act on behalf of the fossil fuel industry".

By Georgia Gratton