Brigitte Alfter, from the European Fund for Investigative Journalism in Brussels, explained how hard the profiling of the lobbyists from energy firms may be, when other firms than energy related are gaining interest in environmental lobbying.
Knowledge can be found on the analysis of databases, specially the carbon emissions databases and the “excuse projects”, those made by companies to gain an environment friendly image and some “green consciousness” spread by media campaigns. The investments in green energy can also be a good source of information.
Preparing Copenhagen
One of the particularities of the months before the Copenhagen conference, was the explosion of lobbyists in representation of « clean coal » industries. As a result, the negotiation before the conference softened the texts, and what was meant to be an international environmental law instrument -based in the principle of polluters paying- lost it's essence trying to reach the consensus among states... under the influence of the lobbyists from the industries.
The original draft proposed by the European Commission was very environment oriented but not widely accepted by industry and financial lobby. Brigitte Alfter counted some 69 business lobbying groups and only 11 green groups. Then, Germany and it's very powerful coal industry entered the negotiations. The original text started to decline as negotiations ended in Brussels and lobbying began to take part at the capitals of the influential countries before the conference.
Emerging countries issues
Murali Krishnan, National Affairs Editor from India, mentioned accurately that climate change is not really a primary concern to the government of a developing country, which had to deal with more urgent matters. Industry lobbyists were on the same side of the government and very closely related developing industries, often based in the exploitation of natural resources that seriously damage the environment. Environmental concerns were often perceived by these two parties as a menace to stop growth. But the diplomatic discourse in front of the international community is that “ India did not want to be a deal breaker but deal maker”. Environmental measures have been accepted but barely put in place and nearly none accomplished.
The mysterious “carbon industry”
“Carbon market is the way the world has decided to deal with the climate change”. Mark Shapiro, from the Center for Investigating Reporting in Berkeley, USA addressed to the auditory by video-conference. His intervention introduced the curious world of carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon market is to him one of the best happening stories. Carbon is an untouchable commodity which market is growing faster than gold. This market did not exist before and is based on the monitoring of a promise, on measures, to reduce emissions but who determines it? who measures the promise of an entity in developing countries?. Schapiro found immense flaws in the measurements. Some media companies make big money, covering the fluctuations of this financial invention, like the Reuters, the Financial Times and The Guardian. The best way to get in touch with information sources is to get into a “carbon conference” and network.