Surge of fossil fuel lobbyists at climate talks: watchdogs

Surge of fossil fuel lobbyists at climate talks: watchdogs

Fossil fuel lobbyists have flooded UN climate talks in Egypt, a report by watchdog groups said Thursday, as calls grow at the summit for a windfall tax on oil majors' bumper profits.

More than 600 lobbyists from some of the world's biggest polluters have registered to the climate talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, up 25 percent from last year, the analysis by groups including Global Witness and Corporate Accountability found.

They said that is more than the number of lobbyists from the 10 most climate-affected countries combined.

"There's been a lot of lip service paid to this being the so-called African COP, but how are you going to address the dire climate impacts on the continent when the fossil fuel delegation is larger than that of any African country?" said Phillip Jakpor of Corporate Accountability.

The groups scoured the official list of registered participants looking for those either directly affiliated with oil and gas companies, or people who are attending as part of delegations that "act on on behalf of the fossil fuel industry".

Last year at the UN climate meeting in Glasgow, they counted 503 fossil fuel lobbyists registered.

The groups called on the United Nations to restrict access to the talks