COP30 | Promoters from the oil and gas industry are part of the Canadian delegation

Around ten representatives of the oil and gas industry, which is largely responsible for the climate crisis, are on the list of the Canadian delegation to COP30.

“It shows the extent to which this government is in collusion with the oil industry,” said Bloc MP Patrick Bonin, who is part of the Canadian delegation, and who shared the list of those on it with The Canadian Press.

In this delegation, led by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Julie Drasbusin, we find in particular Jay Averill, director of communications for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), whose members produce 80% of Canada’s natural gas and oil.

“In the past, members of this industry have campaigned to question climate science, they obstruct climate negotiations and denigrate the extent of climate change,” responded the Bloc MP, adding that “people who do not want to be part of the solution should not be part of the delegation.”

Privileged access

This is the seventh COP in which Patrick Bonin is participating, but it is his first participation as an elected official.

Like the other “members of the official delegation”, he has access to daily briefings from the country’s chief negotiator, Jeanne-Marie Huddleston, “who informs us of Canada’s positions”.

Being part of a country’s delegation also allows access to certain rooms where negotiations take place which are “prohibited to regular participants”.

Consequently, “it gives a much greater capacity for influence than regular participants”.

The oil and gas industry is the “biggest lobby in Canada”, so “it’s like inviting the fox into the henhouse”, illustrated Patrick Bonin.

For Sabaa Khan, of the David Suzuki Foundation, “this is the equivalent of allowing the tobacco industry to participate in global discussions on public health under the aegis of the WHO”.

The David Suzuki Foundation sent representatives to COP30 in Belém, but they are not part of the Canadian delegation.

“At a time when the global movement is calling on states to address conflicts of interest and the capture of climate negotiations by big fossil fuel companies, Canada is doing the exact opposite – it is opening the door to those who are at the origin of the crisis,” added Ms.^me Khan.

Coal bombs

Scott Volk and Tim Shaw, two executives of Tourmaline Oil Corp, are part of the Canadian delegation list.

Tourmaline Oil Corp is notably involved in the Montney Play oil and gas project, which was recently identified as the biggest “carbon bomb” in Canada by the organizations Lingo, Data for Good, Reclaim Finance and Eclaircies.

The term “carbon bomb” was defined in a study in the journal Energy Policy in 2022 and refers to a project that will generate more than a billion tonnes of GHGs if completed.

Canada reportedly has 14 carbon bombs on its territory and Tourmaline Oil Corp is involved in two of these projects.

Four members of Energy for a Secure Future, an organization dedicated to promoting the export of Canadian natural gas, are also part of the Canadian delegation.

The Canadian delegation has approximately 240 names, including Minister Drasbusin, Minister Steven Guilbeault, a few senators and deputies, representatives of the provinces and certain cities, dozens of civil servants, several representatives of the First Nations, union representatives, members of organizations dedicated to environmental protection, representatives of the carbon capture and sequestration industry, university professors, representatives of large industries and players from the financial world, among others.

The Canadian Press attempted to obtain a comment from the office of the Minister of the Environment and head of the Canadian delegation, Julie Drasbusin, regarding the presence of representatives of the fossil industries within the Canadian delegation, but had not obtained a response at the time of writing these lines.

Thousands of lobbyists

More than 5,350 lobbyists from the fossil fuel sector participated in the last four major UN climate conferences, from 2021 and 2024, according to a new study from the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, published before COP30.

These thousands of lobbyists represented 859 different organizations, including 180 oil and gas companies, according to KBPO.

Their analysis shows that just 90 of these oil and gas companies produced 33,699 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) of oil and gas in 2024 alone. This represents almost 60% of global oil and gas production for that year, the study said.

KBPO is made up of 450 non-governmental organizations spread across several countries, which are calling for an end to the participation of representatives of gas and oil companies in UN climate conferences.