Press Release: Over 225 Organizations Demand: “Kick Big Polluters Out, Don’t Invite Them to the COP30 Table!”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2025

Contacts: reachout@kickbigpollutersout.org  media@corporateaccountability.org

Over 225 Organizations Demand: “Kick Big Polluters Out, Don’t Invite Them to the COP30 Table!”

• Civil society groups and networks representing millions condemn COP30 President Designate’s invitation to corporate interests without protections against conflicts of interest, calling it a “dangerous oversight” that threatens climate action.
• Letter highlights systemic corporate capture of climate talks, including COP30 team’s partnership with a PR firm simultaneously representing major oil and gas corporations.
• Signatories call for a polluter-free COP30 with no corporate sponsorship from polluting industries and the establishment of an Accountability Framework to protect climate negotiations.

GLOBAL – More than 225 organizations and networks from around the world have signed a letter calling on the UNFCCC’s COP30 Presidency to stop inviting the world’s largest polluters to the climate negotiation table, as reported this morning in Climate Home News. The letter responds to the COP30 President Designate’s recent public communication framing the upcoming U.N. climate talks in Belém, Brazil as “the Defining Business Opportunity of Our Time” and calling on business leaders to join the upcoming climate talks in November.

The signatories–which include members of the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition and collectively represent millions of people around the world, warn that inviting corporations without explicit protections against greenwashing and conflicts of interest undermines the credibility and effectiveness of the UN climate body. This comes at a critical moment when the UNFCCC has no meaningful measures in place to ensure its policymaking isn’t compromised by private interests that contradict the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

“In addition to environmental pollution and direct violations, large corporations pollute COPs,” said Leticia Tura, Executive Director FASE, Brazil. “It is urgent to limit their participation in COPs, strengthen cooperation for climate justice, and impose effective sanctions against crimes committed against territories and their peoples.”

Another signatory, Tasneem Essop from Climate Action Network said, “For decades, corporate interests – particularly from the fossil fuel industry – have systematically sabotaged climate progress through aggressive lobbying, disinformation, and glossy PR campaigns. The halls of COP have become marketing playgrounds for the very industries driving the crisis, while Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities face barriers to meaningful participation.”

The letter criticizes the unrestricted invitation to business as “removed from the reality that polluting businesses, and their enablers, are directly responsible for the climate crisis.” In addition, it highlights the concerning nature of the COP30 team’s partnership with a PR company that simultaneously promotes the interests of major oil and gas companies, illustrating the deep conflict of interest at the heart of climate diplomacy. Signatories are calling for an immediate end to this arrangement, and for protection measures to be put in place to ensure that COP30 is not undermined by the fossil fuel industry and other polluting industries.

“Despite claims that this is a historic year for pursuing a just transition, environmental justice groups and communities continue to be excluded from COP30 while polluters get a front-row seat,” said Fernando Tormos-Aponte of Just Transition Alliance. “There can be no just transition without the groups impacted by the climate crisis and our efforts to address it.”

Signatories are demanding four specific commitments from the COP30 Presidency:

• A polluter-free COP with no corporate sponsorship from polluting corporations.
• A polluter-free Presidency with no leadership roles for those with ties to polluters, including ending the partnership with Edelman PR firm.
• The advancement of an Accountability Framework to protect climate negotiations from industries with a history of undermining climate action to protect their profit.
• Action to protect against the commodification of nature, particularly safeguarding the Amazon rainforest.

The letter builds on a joint call issued earlier this year by over 200 organizations to reform the UN Climate Talks, including ending the corporate trade show and protecting negotiations from corporate capture.

According to signatory Andrea Echeverri from Global Forest Coalition, “So far, the UNFCCC’s path seems to be wrong. Why are the highest concentrations of GHG emissions concentrated after Rio 1992? Your system is flawed, and we feel it without needing to read your reports; we feel it in our lives, in our crops, in our territories. You have lied to us since 1992. Stop lying to us and don’t risk the future. For a livable future, get rid of the Big Polluters, get rid of the fossil fuel industry and agribusiness. Get rid of them or there will be no future for anyone; this is not a threat; it is a reality, and it will affect you too. Don’t let them have you.”

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Kick Big Polluters Out is a coalition of hundreds of organizations across the globe united in demanding an end to the ability of Big Polluters to write the rules of climate action. You can read more about Kick Big Polluters Out here, and access a full list of our members. 

Additional quotes from KBPO members:
“Indigenous Peoples from every region of Mother Earth are on the frontlines of protracted conflict with the fossil fuel industry. Highly paid attorneys and PR firms representing the polluting industries with corporate takeover of the UN climate negotiations and sabotaging any real climate action has to stop now! A transparency and accountability policy is welcomed towards bringing light to conflicts of interest, but implementing stronger measures to hold Big Polluters truly accountable by kicking them out and making them pay their corporate debt to humanity and Mother Earth is most urgent.” Tom BK Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

1 Oct, 2025
Posted in Forests and Climate Change