THE COP28 is officially the largest COP ever organized with 80,000 registered participants according to a provisional list, which reveals for the first time and accurately their properties, in an effort by UN Climate to address criticisms about the risk of a conflict of interest.

Including technical and security staff, 104,000 people will have access to the “blue zone” dedicated to negotiations and state or organization pavilions, twice as many as at COP27, which until now held the record of 49,000 accredited. Accreditation numbers do not necessarily correspond to those actually attending Dubai.

Almost 23,500 people are part of the national delegations, with Brazil, which usually sends record-sized delegations to the COP, numbering 1,336, the United Arab Emirates, which hosts this year’s conference, 620, and France 265. or even US 158.

To these are added the 27,208 brought with them by the national delegations: business leaders, experts, representatives of professional organizations, academics, but also their technical staff. They do not, however, have access to negotiations to the same extent as official representatives.

Among the members of the French delegation stand out the managing director of TotalEnergies Patrick Poignant, as well as the heads of Danone Antoine de Saint-Afrique, Veolia Estelle Brassianoff, Engie Catherine McGregor, Sanofi Paul Hudson, CMA-CGM Rodolphe Saade or EDF Lick Remont.

The eldest son of French billionaire and head of LVMH Bernard Arnault, Antoine, is on the list of almost 4,900 guests from the host country, along with Bill Gates and many other business men and women.

NGOs, ranging from environmental activists to professional lobbyists, including some for fossil fuels, secured over 14,000 accreditations, and journalists will also participate en masse (nearly 4,000 accreditations).

Representatives of the UN, its agencies and international agencies (as well as those they bring with them) represent over 4,700 accreditations.

The absence of clear rules on the conflicts of interest of COP participants is often criticized. Until this year, the UN did not make it mandatory for participants to provide information about their “link”, notably their employer and their exact relationship, including financial relationship, with the body through which their accreditation was sought, making it difficult identifying those belonging to lobbies.

Separately, organizers say 400,000 people have signed up to receive a “day pass” to access the “green zone,” a sort of massive exhibition dedicated to innovation and business at the 2020 World Expo site.