At least 475 carbon-capture lobbyists attending Cop28. Cop28 organisers granted attendance to at least 475 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage (CCS), unproven technologies that climate scientists say will not curtail global heating, the Guardian can reveal.

The figure was calculated by the Centre for Environmental Law (Ciel) and shared exclusively with the Guardian, and is the first attempt to monitor the growing influence of the CCS subset of the fossil fuel industry within the UN climate talks.

CCS, or CCUS (which includes “utilisation”) is being pushed hard at the summit by fossil fuel and other high-pollution industries, as well as by the biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries. CCS backers say the technologies will enable polluters to trap carbon dioxide emissions and bury them under the ground or the seabed, or use the CO₂ in the production of fuels or fertilisers.

At least 475 carbon-capture lobbyists attending Cop28

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other climate scientists agree that phasing out oil, gas and coal is the only path to curtailing global heating to somewhere near 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, and that CCUS and other unproven niche technologies are a delaying tactic and a distraction that could, at best, contribute to a very limited extent.

Lili Fuhr, the director of Ciel’s fossil economy programme, said: “The force with which the fossil fuel industry and their allies are coming to Dubai to sell the idea that we can ‘capture’ or ‘manage’ their carbon pollution is a sign of their desperation. CCS is the fossil fuel industry’s lifeline and it is also their latest excuse and delay tactic.

“We must not let an army of carbon capture lobbyists blow a gigantic loophole into the energy package here at Cop28.”

The scale of oil and gas influence is unprecedented at Cop28, which is being run by the president of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company, with 2,456 industry-affiliated lobbyists – almost four times higher than the number registered for Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The carbon capture bloc is one of the largest – outnumbering official Indigenous representatives by 50%, as well as several of the most climate-affected countries, including Somalia (366), Niger (135), Guinea-Bissau (43), Tonga (79), Eritrea (7), Liberia (197), and Solomon Islands (56).

Read more at The Guardian