Have fossil fuel lobbyists captured the European Parliament?

Between September 1 and December 18, 2025, 22,158 lobbyist entries were recorded at the European Parliament, with private interests accounting for 59% of visits. The report highlights a pervasive presence of American lobbyists (95% presence rate) and fossil fuel representatives (87.5% presence rate), who utilized direct access and professional consultancies to influence the Omnibus I law. A case study on ExxonMobil reveals the company spent between €1.3 million and €1.7 million on consultancies alone in 2025 to target climate legislation. The analysis concludes that this lobbying effort, supported by a right-wing/far-right parliamentary majority, successfully secured the removal of climate transition plans from the legislation.

• Private interests dominated access to the European Parliament between September 1 and December 18, 2025, accounting for 59% of the 22,158 total entries. This group, comprising trade and business associations (23.5%), companies and groups (21.8%), and professional consultancies (13.6%), recorded 13,058 visits, more than double the 6,207 visits made by NGOs.
• The United States was the most active non-European lobbying power, with representatives present 95% of the time during the 80-day study period. American influence is further amplified by professional consultancies; of the 50 most frequent consulting firms, 40 are directly funded by US-based entities, including all of the top 10 firms.
• The fossil fuel industry maintained a near-constant presence in the European Parliament, appearing 87.5% of the time (only 10 days without a representative). 27 identified fossil fuel lobby groups—including 10 oil and gas producers, eight associations, and nine service companies—made 468 entries, with 62.3% of visits not linked to a specific appointment.
• ExxonMobil Petroleum employed a multi-layered lobbying strategy in 2025, spending between €1.3 million and €1.7 million on professional consultancies (including Burson Cohn & Wolfe, NOVE, Teneo Brussels, and FTI Consulting) and participating in 25 industry associations. In total, the company's direct and indirect activities resulted in over 650 visits to the European Parliament in less than four months, with total declared costs between €4,000,000 and €4,500,000.
• Lobbying activity peaked during critical negotiations for the Omnibus I law. On November 4, 2025, the European Parliament saw its highest number of fossil fuel lobbyists, with at least 28 representatives from producers, associations, utilities, and consultancies present while amendments regarding climate transition plans were debated.
• The report argues that the combined pressure from American representatives, fossil fuel companies, and a right-wing/far-right parliamentary majority successfully led to the removal of climate transition plans from the Omnibus I legislation.

APA

Reclaim Finance (2026). Have fossil fuel lobbyists captured the European Parliament? https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reclaim-Finance-Have-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-captured-the-European-Parliament.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. Have fossil fuel lobbyists captured the European Parliament? 2026. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reclaim-Finance-Have-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-captured-the-European-Parliament.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=Have fossil fuel lobbyists captured the European Parliament? |date=March 2026 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reclaim-Finance-Have-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-captured-the-European-Parliament.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinance2026have, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{Have fossil fuel lobbyists captured the European Parliament?}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Reclaim-Finance-Have-fossil-fuel-lobbyists-captured-the-European-Parliament.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }