Very Bad People

Our very first Tipping Point Cocktail was with Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness and author of Very Bad People: The Inside Story of the Fight Against the World's Network of Corruption. (06/09/2022)

Patrick's story has it all; courage, conviction, danger, adventure, generosity and humour. He shared with us how Global Witness came to be; he and two friends founded it close to 30 years ago with a specific and very ambitious plan in mind. Starting with very little, they raised the money needed to go to Thailand to investigate the link between the illegal timber trade on the Thai/Cambodian border and how this was funding the Khmer Rouge and the civil war in Cambodia. Printing business cards as employees of the Universal Export Co. (a fictional import-export company which in James Bond acts as a cover for the British Secret Service), they landed in Thailand, rented a four by four and their investigation began. No doubt they were lucky to get out of there alive, but they were also very gutsy! They collected video footage that proved the illegal trade... I won't tell you what happened, it is all in the book, but this new three people organisation helped to bring down the Khmer Rouge and end the war in Cambodia.

GW primarily investigates corruption; the sort of corruption that knows no borders but is good at camouflaging itself. There are also enough places where corruption is brazen. On average, 4 people are assassinated weekly because they are getting in the way of financial interests (usually with ties to the West) in defence of their communities and ecosystems. The true number is most likely much higher. GW publishes their annual Defenders Campaign that accounts for and gives a voice to people around the world who are on this frontline. This sort of corruption that infiltrates our political systems and banking systems is probably one of the greatest obstacles we have while trying to adequately respond to the climate crisis.

For three decades the UN has been convening the COP global climate summits in the hope that all countries could work together towards an agreement on a united response to the climate emergency. GW uncovered that at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 there were 503 fossil fuel lobbyists. This year at COP27 at Sharm el Sheik there were 636 fossil fuel lobbyists. Here is a list!

There are many ways to understand the significance of this number; here are just a few:

• The 636 fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered the combined delegates of the top ten countries most affected by climate change.

• For every one indigenous representative, there were two fossil fuel lobbyists.

• 200 of these lobbyists joined COP27 as members of national delegations.

• 636 is a conservative number as it is likely there were many more lobbyists there who were not identified.

Now remember, the UN’s IPCC report this year could not have made it more clear; even using the existing fossil fuel infrastructure would leave the hope of limiting warming to 1.5C behind and lead us to a scenario of exponentially greater catastrophes, and yet here the lobbyists are in greater and greater numbers influencing talks and trying to undermine any real meaningful targets and action. GW is doing its job exposing these numbers, the question is how do we protect these political processes from corruption? Do we have a role to play? There is now a campaign, Kick Big Polluters Out. It is being supported by more than 450 organisations and you can add your voice too by signing the petition.

Takeaways from the discussion: There is no action too small. One person can do a lot with a little, but it is easier not to do it alone. Laws need to be put in place to protect the integrity of our political processes and corporate money has to stay out.

Thank you Patrick!

#globalwitness

#transparency

#COP27