Will COP30 in Brazil be another corporate lobby fair? Yes

When world leaders arrive in Belém this November for COP30, the first UN climate summit hosted in the heart of the Amazon, they’ll be joined by thousands of corporate representatives, from oil giants and agribusiness conglomerates to banks and mining firms.

Many will arrive draped in sustainability slogans, sponsoring panels and showcasing 'green' technologies.

But behind the badges and glossy branding lies a much starker reality: the world’s biggest polluters are using the COP process to delay, and weaken the very policies meant to hold them accountable.

In collaboration with InfluenceMap, Transparency International has published its latest analysis ahead of COP30, which examines the climate policy engagement of 466 companies and industry associations that attended COP28 in Dubai and COP29 in Baku.

The findings are deeply troubling.

Nearly nine-in-ten companies have failed to express clear support for the Paris Agreement in the past two years.

More than half of the most politically active participants — those actively communicating on the energy transition — opposed policies needed to deliver the energy transition. And when it comes to forests and land use, over two-thirds of highly engaged companies resisted measures to halt deforestation.

In short, while companies are showing up at COPs in record numbers, most are not backing the policies needed to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown.

This contradiction between rhetoric and reality is not new. But what’s changed is the scale and visibility of corporate participation.

Tens of thousands of 'observers' but no conflict-of-interest policy

The UN climate process now counts tens of thousands of “observers” each year, an increasing number representing industries whose profits depend on fossil fuels or deforestation.

And unlike other international forums, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) still lacks a conflict-of-interest policy.

That means fossil fuel lobbyists, polluting corporations, and even representatives from companies under investigation for corruption can access the negotiating spaces on equal footing with those advocating for climate justice.

Transparency International’s reports COP Co-opted and Behind the Badge warn that this lack of oversight risks turning the COP process into an “industry trade fair” rather than a climate summit.

Big polluters are not merely attending; they’re influencing the agenda, sponsoring pavilions, hosting receptions, and sitting inside national delegations.

Take the case of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company, which attended COP28 and COP29 as part of the country’s official delegation, while continuing to expand fossil-fuel production and oppose policies supporting the clean energy transition.

Or JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, which has pledged “net zero” and “zero deforestation” while pushing back against EU deforestation regulations and being linked to major corruption scandals.

Both companies are expected to have a strong presence at COP30, the very summit their home country will host.

These examples highlight the growing blur between public and private interests at climate talks. When corporate delegates attend as part of government teams, or when COP presidency team members have financial ties to fossil fuel industries, it becomes almost impossible to guarantee impartiality.

The result is a crisis of credibility, one that undermines public trust in the entire UN climate process.

The consequences are already visible. Despite nearly every nation signing up to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, global emissions continue to rise, and new oil, gas, and coal projects are still being approved. The political capture of climate negotiations — by those with the most to lose from genuine decarbonisation — is one of the reasons why.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Transparency and integrity are not optional extras; they are prerequisites for effective climate diplomacy.

That’s why Transparency International and over 140 partner organisations have called for an integrity framework for COP30, including a UNFCCC conflict-of-interest policy and mandatory disclosure of all participants' affiliations. The public deserves to know who is shaping the rules of global climate action, and who’s paying their bills. T

hese are not radical demands; they are basic safeguards long overdue in global governance. Without them, COPs will remain vulnerable to manipulation and greenwashing, and the world will continue to mistake corporate marketing for climate leadership.

As the host of COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to set a new standard for integrity. The eyes of the world will be on Belém not only to deliver new emissions targets, but to prove that the process itself is worthy of public trust.

Because if the UN’s most important climate forum cannot protect itself from the influence of the industries driving the crisis, it risks becoming part of the problem. And the planet cannot afford another co-opted conference.

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