A coalition of global public health and climate justice experts has urged governments across the world to take stronger measures against corporate interference as countries hold critical negotiations on climate action and tobacco control.
The appeal, made by Corporate Accountability, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), stresses the need for “urgent, accountability-driven responses” to counter the tactics of big tobacco, big food, and big oil corporations.
Their warning comes during a media briefing ahead of two major intergovernmental meetings: the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in Geneva, Switzerland and COP30 to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belem, Brazil.
The secretariat of the WHO FCTC, the world’s first corporate accountability and public health treaty, ratified by 183 parties, recently cautioned governments that tobacco corporations are attempting to influence negotiations beginning November 17, 2025.
As the treaty marks 20 years of implementation in 2025, experts say maintaining its integrity is more urgent than ever.
Prof. Judith Mackay, a veteran tobacco control advocate and senior advisor to the WHO and the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), emphasised the centrality of Article 5.3 of the treaty, which bars tobacco industry interference in public policy.
“If a government introduces new pack warnings, it tells the industry, ‘These are the rules; this is what you must do.’ But when it comes to policymaking, the industry must remain entirely outside the room,” she said.
Contrary to the perception that tobacco giants are too powerful to challenge, Prof. Mackay maintained that global precedents show otherwise.
She cited Uruguay’s landmark victory over Philip Morris International after the tobacco giant sued the country for its strict packaging laws.
“Public health won before profits. They are not undefeatable — they are, in China, what we would call paper tigers,” she said.
Her views were echoed by Daniel Dorado Torres, a lawyer and Tobacco Campaign Director at Corporate Accountability, who underlined the power of Article 19 of the treaty, which allows governments to pursue civil, criminal, administrative, and other liability actions against tobacco corporations.
“In 20 years, governments have built tools to strengthen national laws and hold the industry accountable. The FCTC Secretariat now maintains an expert database and a civil liability toolkit precisely for this purpose,” he explained.
Dorado added that COP11 delegates in Geneva are expected to consider a report outlining over 30 recommendations on how governments can expand liability measures against tobacco companies.
Nepal offers a stark illustration of how far tobacco companies go to undermine public health policy.
Dr Tara Singh Bam, Asia Pacific Director at Vital Strategies, recalled that Nepal’s comprehensive tobacco control law — which included then-unprecedented 75% graphic warnings — was delayed for years due to litigation.
“It took nearly three years of court battles before the law could be implemented in 2013,” he said.
Even after the country increased pictorial warnings to 90% in 2015 and then 100% in 2025 — the largest in the world — the industry filed fresh lawsuits, delaying implementation.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of CAPPA Nigeria, argued that climate and tobacco control struggles are linked by a deeper problem: the ability of powerful industries to infiltrate policy spaces.
“COP30 on climate and COP11 on tobacco control are dealing with corporations whose activities harm public health and the planet. Whether Big Oil or Big Tobacco, the tactics are the same — infiltration, deception, and obstruction,” he said.
Oluwafemi warned that fossil fuel lobbyists now occupy climate negotiation spaces with alarming ease.
“Governments go into UNFCCC and FCTC meetings only to find industry representatives sitting at the table, directly or by proxy. We need stringent rules to stop abusive corporations from capturing public policy,” he said.
Rachel Rose Jackson, Director of Climate Research & Policy at Corporate Accountability (United States) and a leading figure in the Kick Big Polluters Out Coalition, said the parallels between climate and tobacco treaty spaces are unmistakable.
“The blockers of action in both UNFCCC and FCTC are the same abusive industries. They use the same playbook to delay, distract, and derail progress,” she said.
Jackson said the absence of strong conflict-of-interest rules in the climate treaty — unlike the FCTC — has allowed fossil fuel interests to deeply shape climate negotiations for decades.
“Last year alone, more than 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists flooded the climate talks in Baku. We have seen polluter corporations financing climate talks. This is why, year after year, negotiations fail to deliver meaningful action,” she said.
The consequence, she warned, is catastrophic: “Millions of lives and livelihoods are at stake.”
In response, over 450 organisations have jointly launched the Kick Big Polluters Out Coalition, demanding robust liability and accountability mechanisms in the UNFCCC.
Jackson noted one recent victory: for the first time in 30 years, all non-state participants at UNFCCC summits must now publicly disclose who funds their participation and confirm alignment with climate goals.
“It’s a small but historic step toward acknowledging and addressing Big Polluters’ influence,” she said.
Across the board, experts agreed that decisive action is needed to prevent corporate capture of global health and climate policy.
They urged governments attending COP11 and COP30 to strengthen conflict-of-interest rules, adopt and expand liability measures, ensure corporations cannot shape public policy and uphold public health and climate justice priorities.
As the world confronts escalating climate crisis and persistent tobacco-related deaths, advocates say the stakes could not be higher.