Why fossil fuel companies shouldn’t be allowed in COP 22

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis. Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum, coal, and natural gas and are used as an energy source in the electricity and transportation sectors. They're also a leading source of the world's global warming pollution.

Burning fossil fuels negatively affects the environment because they release carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, which contributes to global climate change. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the burning fossil fuels during the last 150 years has increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by 25 percent. Levels of methane and nitrous oxide have also increased.

In addition to contributing to global climate change, burning fossil fuels also pollutes the air, leading to negative health effects for animals. Exposure to the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels can cause headaches and increase the risk of heart disease. According to GreenEnergyChoice.com, more than 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide are produced just by power plants each year. Sulphur oxides produced when burning fossil fuels form sulphuric acid when they combine with water vapor. As this acid accumulates in lakes and streams, it makes the habitats uninhabitable for plants and animals.

Burning fossil fuels also results in thermal pollution. The process of burning any substance generates heat, and this heat is often released into lakes and streams when the water that they contain is used as a coolant. The increased temperatures in these lakes and streams upsets the ecosystem, causing some species' populations to increase and others to decrease.

The wide scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, to fire steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use.

Note: The total of these percentages does not equal 100 because figures are rounded off.
Source: BP, Statistical Review of World Energy 2008
Reference: Basics of Energy

The table shows, how desperate the big countries in using fossil fuels. China and India mostly use coal for their industry which is much more dangerous to the environment. Therefore, the industrialist countries which are the major contributors of global warming hire consultant and consultancy farm to advocate for them.

Fossil fuels lobby is the umbrella term used to name the paid representatives of large fossil fuel (oil, gas, coal) and electric utilities corporations who attempt to influence governmental policy. This energy lobby is criticized for using its influence to block or dilute legislation regarding global climate change.

Many of the most influential members of the energy lobby are among the top polluters in the United States. According to the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March 2002 by former attorneys at the Environmental Protection Agency, "Companies like ExxonMobil and Sunoco keep reporting record profits while increasing emissions or more cancer causing chemicals from their refineries.

In the 2006 US election cycle, oil and gas companies contributed over $19 million to political campaigns. 82% of that money went to Republican candidates, while the remaining 18% went to Democrats. In 2004, oil and gas companies contributed over $25 million to political campaigns, donating 80% of that money to Republicans. In the 2000 elections, over $34 million was contributed, with 78% of that money going to Republicans.

The energy lobby has a history of conflict with international interests and democratic global governance. According to the International Sustainable Energy Organization for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency the second World Climate Conference was sabotaged by the USA and oil lobbies, whereupon UNISEO proceeded to set up a Global Energy Charter which protects life, health, climate and the biosphere from emissions. According to the organization, these same "reactionary energy lobby groups tried to boycott this Charter with the help from oil- and coal-producing nations and succeeded to keep energy out of the Rio Conference on Environment & Development (Earth Summit) in 1992, to continue this game in all Climate Conferences in Berlin, Kyoto, The Hague and Marrakech, where the USA boycotted the Kyoto protocol and still ignores the Charter.

The financial conflict of interest behind the Cop 21-Paris summit – with about 20 percent of the budget brought corporations – is basically an open secret. Corporate Accountability International (CAI) has mapped out the connections between energy corporations sponsoring the event, policymakers, and international bodies to show exactly how well choreographed the conference has become: back-channel diplomatic horse trading, showcases for "business innovation," a perfunctory nod to "civil society groups" and a tightly controlled smattering of protesters.

CAI analyzes four major COP21 sponsors that have seized Paris as a prime business opportunity. These companies have lately eschewed historical associations with polluting fuels and proclaimed their commitment to progressive investment in clean energy. But CAI argues sponsorship deals let "corporations responsible for causing the climate crisis green-wash their brands while continuing to make no meaningful changes to their polluting operations."
Ahead of (COP 22),the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC which is scheduled to be held from 7-18 November 2016 at Marrakech, Morocco, the fossil fuel companies try to influence the policy again. They wants to be part of the UN Climate Negotiations. But the climate activists protest it pointing that the fossil fuel companies should not be allowed to influence the planet's future. We need them out of the UNFCCC, the same way that the tobacco industry was banned from the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. We do not like fossil fuel companies to take hold of our future! To help you do that.

If the ruling elite can't imagine climate talks without the influence of polluters' money, how can we imagine a world without dirty fuels? Yes, polluters should pay, but they shouldn't govern or give guidelines. The fossil-fuel industry's stake is tied to its environmental debt to society; they can't demand influence when they owe restitution.