Ministers Met With Fossil Fuel Producers 149 Times While Planning Green Recovery

Phoebe Cooke headshot - credit Laura King Photography
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Campaigners have accused the UK government of hypocrisy after ministers metย with fossil fuel producers almost 150 times as they prepared to โ€œbuild back greenerโ€ during the COVID-19ย pandemic.

Newly releasedย data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) shows meetings with oil and gas companies dramatically outnumbered those with renewable producers ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnsonโ€™s โ€œRooseveltianโ€ New Dealย announcement.

Analysis by DeSmog shows ministers met representatives from companies including Shell, BP and ExxonMobil 149 times between April and June, the three months covered by the transparency data release. Ministers met renewable energy producers just 17 times over the same period, of which 11 meetings were with Danish power companyย ร˜rsted.ย 


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The revelations sparked concern among campaigners, who cited an apparent contradiction between the UK governmentโ€™s net-zeroย target and the privileged access given to bigย polluters.

Anna Vickerstaff, a campaigner at 350.org, said the UKโ€™s 2050 commitment was โ€œmeaningless when you scratch the surface and see what really lies beneath the facade: empty promises and collusion with the very polluters who have created the climateย crisis.โ€

โ€œThe UK government is repeating rhetoric around a โ€˜green recoveryโ€™ but instead of taking action to match these words, theyโ€™re opening the door for fossil fuel companies to access decision-makers on a regular basis,โ€ she said. โ€œThis level of access demonstrates hypocrisy, plain andย simple.โ€

Privilegedย access

The content of the meetings is not available to the public, but government transparency information shows BEIS Secretary of State Alok Sharma and Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng held regular meetings with fossil fuel companies and groups to speak about COVID-19, green recovery andย decarbonisation.

Kwarteng met with a group comprising of BP, Equinor, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Essar and Chrysaor on at least seven occasions to discuss the impact of COVID-19.

The log also reveals that in the three-month timeframe, ministers attended three one-on-one meetings with BP, four with Shell, and one each with Equinor, Drax and Total. Ministers also met 12 times with trade association Oil and Gas UK.

A BP spokesperson told DeSmog the meetings were held at the governmentโ€™s request and mostly involved discussions around the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the introduction of the companyโ€™sย net-zeroย ambition.

As well as conversations on โ€œthe impact of the pandemic on supplies of oil, gas, fuel and services as well as safe workplacesโ€, representatives also discussed โ€œa range of subjects including our ambition and strategy, as well as the response to the pandemicโ€ during the one-on-one audiences, theyย said.

An Equinor spokesperson also defended the meetings, saying it was โ€œnatural for us to meet with the government to discuss how we can play our role in the countryโ€™s energyย transition.โ€

They said the topics under discussion included the โ€œimpact from COVID-19, industrial decarbonisation, the oil and gas sector deal, green recovery and the Humber Industrialย Cluster.โ€

Over the past 18 months, oil companies have announced a flurry of climate commitments to reach โ€œnet zeroโ€ by 2050. But Geoffrey Supran, Research Associate in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University, believes fossil fuel companies are using this โ€œoutside lobbyingโ€ such as advertising and social media to allow them to pursue โ€œinside lobbyingโ€ at governmentย level.

โ€œThis public rhetoric and framing will be designed to complement the โ€˜inside lobbyingโ€™ that this data reveals, which is presumably pushing for government protection of the status quo,โ€ he toldย DeSmog.

โ€œIndeed, this intensive lobbying effort is consistent with a global trend, including specifically in the UK, of the fossil fuel industry successfully exploiting the pandemic to secure continued taxpayer handouts andย bailouts.โ€ย 

BEIS was recently criticised for hosting informal lunches and meetings with Equinor, Shell and BP to discuss their place at the next UN climate talks inย Glasgow.

A BEIS spokesperson defended the meetings, tellingย DeSmog:

โ€œAs youโ€™d expect, Ministers regularly meet with a range of organisations and business groups – including the oil and gas sector – as we all work towards a low-carbon cleaner future and build back greener from the pandemic,โ€ adding that the UK wants to ensure it โ€œhas the most ambitious environmental programme of any country onย earth.โ€

Climateย meetings

Oil and gas companies have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, which has led to a plummeting oil price, putting jobs in the sector atย risk.ย 

But critics suggest big polluters with an interest in preserving the high-carbon status quo are not best placed to inform government policy on a green recovery from theย pandemic.

A recent report by the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) called for a โ€œreset of the way we live and workโ€, with members requesting workers be at the heart of any just transition to a greener economy that puts environmental sustainability at the heart of governmentย policy.

Renewable energy producers, green groups and climate experts were invited to speak to the government over this timeย period.

Trade groups the Renewable Energy Association and Renewables UK met with ministers 11 and 10 times respectively, while the governmentโ€™s advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, met ministers three times, and think tank Green Alliance met ministers twice. In total, green groups and climate experts met with ministers 65 times over the three-monthย period.

But Professor Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester, said the imbalance in the number of meetings between low-carbon stakeholders and big polluters โ€œshines a light on the cosy relationship between ministers and fossil fuel executives and on this governmentโ€™s Machiavellian approach to climateย change.โ€ย 

โ€œUltimately it will be poorer climate vulnerable communities and our own children who will suffer the consequences of this absence of integrity,โ€ heย said.

Image credit: Number 10/Flickrย CC BYNCNDย 2.0

Phoebe Cooke headshot - credit Laura King Photography
Phoebe joined DeSmog in 2020. She is currently co-deputy editor and was previously the organisation's Senior Reporter.

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