Major concern arises over participants at COP29 climate summit: 'No longer fit for purpose'

The COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month raised more questions than answers after it provided a platform for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) company with oil and gas interests to address those in attendance.

As reported by DeSmog, SLB Capturi — which is 80 percent owned by the world's largest offshore drilling firm, SLB — appeared on a panel sponsored by the software company Aveva and focused on the role of technology and artificial intelligence in achieving decarbonization. The company's inclusion at the event on Nov. 16 highlighted an ongoing issue in COP climate summits.

DeSmog noted that on Nov. 14, a statement from key experts — including a former U.N. secretary-general and former U.N. climate chief — declared that the COP climate discussions are "no longer fit for purpose" and require a major overhaul.

The experts added the fact that fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber official representatives from scientific institutions, Indigenous communities, and vulnerable nations at these events represents a "systemic imbalance in COP representation."

According to DeSmog, over 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists attended this year's conference in addition to the 480-plus carbon-capture lobbyists who had access to the event. The latter number was an increase from last year's summit, despite a decrease in the overall number of participants.

"Fossil fuel companies are promoting expensive and speculative CCS with the desperation of an industry that knows its days are numbered. CCS has repeatedly failed and underdelivered and isn't fit for purpose to reduce climate-[damaging] emissions," Rachel Kennerley, International carbon-capture campaigner at the Center for International Environmental Law, told DeSmog. "Unfortunately, governments seem to be misguidedly buying into the hype despite the huge costs to the public purse and the risk that it will delay real climate action."

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Proponents of CCS believe it's a way to capture carbon dioxide from industrial sites before the gas is released into the atmosphere without having to transition to renewable sources.

According to DeSmog, "The new Labour government has committed the U.K. to investing £22 billion in CCS over the next 25 years, claiming that it will help to create a 'new era' of clean energy jobs."

However, the U.N.-backed Production Gap Report in November 2023 found that "the track record for CCS has been very poor to date, with around 80 percent of pilot projects over the last 30 years ending in failure."

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Some of these companies also carry questionable moral practices. SLB, which is based in Houston, Texas, still operates in Russia despite the country's invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. A report by Global Witness in August determined that it is the biggest Western oil field services company still operating in Russia and is "aggressively recruiting young Russian engineers."

SLB says on its website that it "immediately took voluntary measures to curtail our Russian activity" following the Ukraine invasion and that it has "consistently used the international sanctions to guide our actions."

Still, many people attend climate summits hoping to create a real difference in the ongoing climate crisis. DeSmog noted that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said at the G20 summit in Brazil on Nov. 15 that "we must also fight the coordinated disinformation campaigns impeding global progress on climate change, ranging from outright denial to greenwashing to harassment of climate scientists."