Exposed: Yara’s lobbying firepower in Brussels and what it means for the climate
From Corporate Europe Observatory
Tomorrow, the Free the Soil mass action camp begins in Brunsbüttel, Northern Germany. The aim is to shut down one of Yara’s fossil fuel-based fertilizer production plants and call out the damage the company is causing our climate, lands, water and air through its industrial agricultural model.
Yara is Europe’s biggest industrial consumer of fossil gas, particularly fracked gas imported from the US, and has been dubbed the ‘ExxonMobil of the agriculture world’. It’s one of Europe’s biggest emitters and a major lobbyist for fracked gas – while pretending to be climate friendly.
To draw attention to Yara and the camp, CEO has published a new briefing and infographic on the Norwegian Yara’s EU lobbying.
Some of the top line figures (also in our infographic, below):
– Yara has spent as much as €11,850,000 lobbying the EU since 2010 according to the EU transparency register
– It spends up to €100,000 a year on Brussels-based PR firm Logos Public Affairs to help spread its message
– It relies on its five Brussels-based lobby groups to secure political access and influence decision-makers, who spent more than €16m in 2018, have a total of 113 lobbyists and had 113 meetings with the Commission‘s top politicians since November 2014
– Through its senior positions in trade association Fertilizers Europe, it has easy access to MEPs and the early stages of the EU legislative process
Real the full article here: https://corporateeurope.org/en/2019/09/yara-poisoning-our-soils-burning-our-planet