Climate Summit Attendance Non-Controversy

According to official figures over 84,000 people are attending the COP 28 events in Dubai.  An unofficial tally indicates that 2,400 of these attendees are from companies or trade associations dealing in fossil fuels. If those numbers are correct then slightly less than 3% of the attendees are from the oil, gas and coal sectors. On inspection it would seem that it is not the growth in attendance by fossil fuel interests that answers the headline question of “Why climate summit grew so big.”

I attended COP 4 held November 2-13, 1998, in Buenos Aires Argentina. My participation was to set up and moderate a utility sponsored side event presenting a panel on the opportunities for the private finance sector to enable solutions to the greenhouse gas emissions issues. Delegates were invited to attend.

The UN’s website indicates that in 1998 4,941 people attended COP 4. Of those 1,430 were “parties”, 2,628 were from “Observer organizations”, and 883 were “media.”  Based on these numbers an additional 79,000 people attended the 2023 climate summit with only 2,400 from fossil industries.  The growth in attendance clearly comes from the NGO, government, and media sectors not the energy industry.

Common sense would suggest that any high-level discussion of climate change and the ensuing need for a global energy transition from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy sources would need the energy industries’ expertise and inputs.  The United Nations is, of course, an organization of governments.  The meetings and decisions are made by representatives of member governments. Nonetheless it is the energy industry which can provide additional information about resources, costs, and technologies.  Thus, attendance at these climate change summits by industry seems appropriate if the delegates are to make decisions based on available, but carefully scrutinized, evidence.