EU Invited Oil & Gas Executives To Dubai Summit In 2023; Two Of Them Went, Then Didn't Even Bother To Participate

The European Commission is facing criticism from politicians and campaigners for giving a free pass for senior oil and gas executives to attend last year’s COP28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The EU invited five representatives of fossil fuel giants, including executives from BP, ExxonMobil, and Eni, to the flagship climate talks in December last year. More fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the Dubai summit than any previous year.

EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra explained in late April that the five oil executives were invited to COP28 on the basis of their participation in EU events during the summit. “The five representatives… received a Party Overflow badge on the grounds that they were panellists in specific side-events,” Hoekstra stated in a letter to Members of European Parliament (MEPs), following a complaint in December.

However, DeSmog can reveal that two of the executives did not in fact participate in any EU events at COP28, drawing into question the veracity of Hoekstra’s letter to MEPs. Exxon’s chief lobbyist in Brussels Nikolaas Baeckelmans, and Eni’s Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco were invited to the Dubai summit by the EU, yet the European Commission admitted that neither took part in events, when questioned by DeSmog. The Commission initially suggested that Baeckelmans and Brusco were replaced at the last minute by higher ranking speakers in their organisations – a claim that does not appear to be true. The new speakers from Exxon and Eni were in fact more junior staff members – further drawing the EU’s claims into question.

Pascoe Sabido, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency pressure group Corporate Europe Observatory, said that the EU had “completely embarrassed itself with its flimsy excuses” for why Baeckelmans and Brusco were invited to COP28. “What was the EU thinking when it decided to bring senior executives from BP, Exxon and Eni to the UN climate talks? It’s surreal,” he said. “Supposedly the bloc is in favour of a just and fair fossil fuel phase-out, but each of the three companies has a proven track record of lobbying aggressively against such a thing.”

EDIT

https://www.desmog.com/2024/11/05/eu-accused-of-inviting-fossil-fuel-executives-to-cop28-under-false-pretences/