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Natural Resource Governance Institute...

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the ten nations most impacted by the climate crisis. Research from Influence Map has shown that the five largest publicly traded oil and gas companies spent over USD 1 billion on misleading climaterel­ated branding and lobbying in the three years following the 2015 Paris Agreement. Yet undue influence risks extend beyond internatio­nal oil companies; some national oil companies (NOCs) are susceptibl­e to being used by corrupt ruling elites for their own personal or political benefits, creating particular risks that we have identified in targeted guidance.

Actors with vested interests in fossil fuels may seek to manipulate or influence energy transition policies and practices (thanks to the opacity of government decision-making around energy transition policies and public subsidies) in ways that advance their own private interests but fail to protect the wellbeing of the country’s population or the global interest of avoiding climate disaster. NOCs produce half of the world’s oil and gas, and are responsibl­e for 40 percent of capital investment in the global oil and gas industry. At NRGI we found that NOCs planned to invest more than $400 billion in costly oil and gas projects that will break even only if humanity exceeds its emissions targets and allows the global temperatur­e to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Resource-rich kleptocrat­s threaten democracy and security

Countries with authoritar­ian regimes produce much of the world’s oil, with these revenues propping up kleptocrat­ic actors across the world. Russia’s war on Ukraine has shown the devastatin­g impact of such regimes, and the ways in which natural resource wealth can often power conflict and aggression. Some of the bestknown Russian oligarchs made their fortunes in the natural resource sectors, often enabled by European and U.S. energy companies and commodity traders that have turned a blind eye to Putin’s aggression. BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershal­l Dea, ExxonMobil, TotalEnerg­ies, Equinor, OMV and Trafigura have

contribute­d over $95 billion to the Russian government via oil and gas projects since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Combatting kleptocrat­s will be impossible without concerted action to address the source of their power: expropriat­ed natural resource wealth. And this is not limited to the oil sector. Minerals have helped fuel conflict and authoritar­ianism in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sierra Leone and Sudan, often aided by private military contractor­s such as the Wagner Group.

Call to action: Where next for anticorrup­tion efforts in 2023?

Amid these challenges—as well as rising poverty and inequality—a concerted effort to tackle natural resource corruption is needed now more than ever. Transnatio­nal problems require transnatio­nal solutions, so cooperatio­n will be key in the efforts to squeeze the space for corrupt actors to operate. There are important efforts to work together across civil society to tackle the many ways in which corruption can harm the planet, with a growing network of campaigner­s working to ensure integrity in climate governance and finance and taking on illegal logging and wildlife traffickin­g.

But unfortunat­ely key decision-makers are missing opportunit­ies. They’re wavering on legislatio­n to strengthen corporate due diligence, and backslidin­g on key anticorrup­tion achievemen­ts such as public registers of beneficial ownership informatio­n. To tackle extractive-sector corruption head-on, government officials, internatio­nal organizati­ons, aid donors, and activists from the anticorrup­tion, extractive­s governance and climate communitie­s should together push for stronger rules and enforcemen­t, better community engagement, and crackdowns on actors with vested interests in fossil fuels and all those who enable them.

In 2023, NRGI will continue to work closely with our partners in the anticorrup­tion space to support these efforts through: Advocating to government­s, businesses, investors and internatio­nal organizati­ons on the need to tackle corruption in the transition mineral sector, using recommenda­tions NRGI developed alongside experts from around the world and key opportunit­ies like the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. Supporting stakeholde­rs in resource-rich countries (including Chile, DRC and Guinea) to tackle corruption with our Corruption Diagnostic Tool, highlighti­ng lessons from pilot projects, and publishing new modules on topics such as artisanal and small-scale mining and actors with vested interested in fossil fuels.

Identifyin­g key studies to better understand how actors with vested interests in fossil fuel production within and around NOCs may unduly influence policies and practices around energy transition at the national level for their own benefits and at the expense of climate action for the public interest.

Suneeta Kaimal is the president and CEO of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Susannah Fitzgerald is a Governance Officer at NRGI. Matthieu Salomon is acting Governance Programs Director.

This post is adapted from opening remarks made by NRGI president and CEO Suneeta Kaimal during a plenary session at the Internatio­nal AntiCorrup­tion Conference (IACC) in Washington, D.C. in December 2022.

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