Anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, along with 264 separate rights groups and individuals, urged the UN climate change agency to call out fossil fuel lobbyists for their efforts in delaying climate progress on Tuesday.

The letter urged the leadership of 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) to “confront high-polluting industries’ undue influence in climate negotiations and restore trust in the COP process.” This includes recommendations of new rules around conflicts of interest and transparency standards. These new rules would exclude fossil fuel lobbies from state delegations and all participants would have to publicly declare their affiliations. It also calls for future COP hosts to demonstrate tangible progress towards climate goals, as well as an end to the partnership of the COP Presidency and fossil fuel lobbies.

The letter says that without the proposed changes, “global climate diplomacy risks remaining a hollow exercise, incapable of addressing the most urgent crisis of our time.”

The COP climate conference series has faced significant criticism due to the prevalence of private, corporate actors from high-polluting industries in the conferences. Last year’s COP29 in Baku saw a vastly disproportionate number of fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance. In addition, COP28 was hosted in Dubai, the capital city of the worlds second largest oil producing country.

2024 was the first year to surpass the 1.5ºC (beyond pre-industrial levels) threshold of the Paris Agreement, while global fossil fuel consumption remains at an all time high. Experts warn that without significant international action, global temperatures could move beyond the “tipping point,” causing irreversible and exponential damage.

Brazil is the host of COP30, which will take place from November 10, 2025 to November 21, 2025. The key priorities this year is ensuring the inter-states efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.