How Corruption and Undue Influence Threaten Multilateral Climate Action
Every year, world leaders and national delegations, together with scientists, activists, and trade, finance and industry representatives, gather at the international Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to report on their progress and negotiate further measures to prevent and respond to human-caused climate change.
But this report finds that in its current form, COP is at risk of being undermined by undue corporate influence and fossil fuel industry capture. Corruption and kleptocracy, too, threaten the integrity of climate conferences, including COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. This report finds that through its organisation of COP 29, Azerbaijan, with its autocratic government, large fossil fuels sector, and severe levels of public sector corruption, clearly illustrates several risks to the integrity of UN climate conferences.
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