MOTHER JONES: The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Bankrolling the Paris Climate Talks
This week and next, roughly 40,000 diplomats, activists, policy experts, and journalists are gathering in the French capital for a round of high-stakes negotiations aimed at slowing climate change. They’re packed into a regional airport that, as described by [1]our Climate Desk partners at the New Republic [2], has been converted to resemble a cross between the United Nations headquarters building, Disney World’s Epcot Center, and a natural history museum.
For two weeks, all these people need to be fed, housed, transported, entertained, and equipped with space to work. Unsurprisingly, it’s an expensive undertaking—budgeted by the French government at nearly $200 million, according to[3]EurActiv France [3]. About one-fifth of that tab is being picked up by private corporations.
“Those corporations are able to say they’re part of the solution just because they write a check,” Jesse Bragg said.
Big international conferences frequently have corporate sponsors, but given the basic aim of the Paris talks—to dramatically reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions—some of the event’s sponsors are drawing criticism for their close ties to the fossil fuel industry. In other words, some of the companies paying to keep the lights on and the coffee flowing at the vital climate summit may have a vested interest in limiting the scope of the international agreement.
