Together we’re taking on Big Polluters and Big Tobacco

Dear Friend,

You may have seen talk in the news about the global climate treaty meetings, called COP30, that just wrapped up in Belém, Brazil. You might not know that international tobacco treaty negotiations have been going on at the very same time in Geneva, Switzerland.

If the words “treaty meetings” make your eyes glaze over, we get it. But wait! Here’s the thing:

The corporations and billionaires propping up the wannabe dictator in the U.S. are the same ones blocking climate progress, fueling disinformation, pushing products that kill people and harm the planet, and selling snake oil packaged as “solutions” to the problems they’ve fueled — from the U.S., to the highest levels of the U.N., including these treaty meetings.

But all over the world, people are rising and resisting.

That’s why, at both the climate and tobacco treaty meetings, Corporate Accountability has partnered with allies around the globe and people like you to challenge these corporations — to protect our freedoms, our communities, and the Earth we call home.

And we wanted to take a moment to share some of the headlines and photos of what you helped make possible in Belém and Geneva. Read on… and stay tuned for more soon.

KICKING BIG POLLUTERS OUT!

Before the U.N. climate talks even started, the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition exposed the extent of Big Polluters’ presence over the last 4 years of climate talks (over 5,350 fossil fuel lobbyists attended), and how much oil and gas production some of these Big Polluters have been responsible for while they’ve been undermining climate action. The research was featured in an exclusive Guardian story that was picked up by outlets around the globe, putting governments and industry on notice on the eve of the climate talks.

The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition then crunched the numbers and together we exposed that approximately one in every 25 participants at this round of climate talks was representing fossil fuel interests. This is the highest concentration we’ve seen since this research began, outnumbering delegates from countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

To combat the talks being overrun by Big Polluters, thousands of folks like you took action and added your name to a petition calling on U.N. Secretary General Guterres to Kick Big Polluters Out of the climate talks, and crack down on fossil fuel industry influence through the U.N.

In the end, we clearly saw the impact that Big Polluters’ stranglehold over climate action is having. Nevertheless, activists, organizers, and communities secured a few hard-fought steps towards climate justice, including laying the groundwork for a pathway towards a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels that honors the needs of workers and others on the frontlines of the climate crisis. And successfully delaying or weakening some of the dangerous schemes pushed by Big Polluters at the talks.

We’ll share more on our blog about the outcomes of COP30 soon. But in the meantime, know this: It’s having you by our side that makes all this possible.

BUILDING THE MOVEMENT TO MAKE BIG POLLUTERS PAY!

While we organized to help shift what's possible inside the U.N. climate treaty negotiating rooms, we've also been collectively shifting what's possible outside of them. Our Latin America climate campaign has been organizing for several years to move more of the region’s climate movement to challenge corporate abuse, and Make Big Polluters Pay.

And during the People’s Summit — which ran alongside the first week of the treaty negotiations and drew 15,000 attendees — the progress we've made was evident: in the relationships we built and the topics covered. The final declaration from the summit included a call to Make Big Polluters Pay for "the socio-environmental debt accumulated through centuries", a demand to "end to the exploitation of fossil fuels" and an “opposition to any false solutions to the climate crisis”. The power of people was on full display at a march at the culmination of the summit that brought nearly 70,000 people out to the streets.

MAKING BIG TOBACCO PAY FOR ITS ABUSES

To kick off the global tobacco treaty talks, we and our allies staged a street theatre performance and action calling on government delegates to stop Big Tobacco’s influence in public health policy and to make Big Tobacco pay. Check out a video of the action.

Then the very next day, we delivered the voices of activists like you — nearly 40,000 signatures strong! — straight to the president of the global tobacco treaty talks, calling on governments to make Big Tobacco pay for fueling death, disease, and environmental destruction.

In the end, governments representing more than 75% of the world’s population submitted official Declarations of Conflict of Interest, affirming their commitment to keeping Big Tobacco out of the treaty talks. And that’s not all: delegates adopted a decision that will provide more tools to countries to advance liability, accelerating momentum to make Big Tobacco pay for its abuses around the world.

Together with you, with our allies, and with activists from around the world, we challenged and will continue to challenge corporations’ abusive agendas. Thank you for all that you do.

Onward,
The team at Corporate Accountability