DELEGATES tied to the world’s largest oil and gas firms — including BP and Shell — have attended UN-led climate talks at least 7,200 times over the last 20 years, analysis has revealed.

The Kick Big Polluters Out coalition examined the number of times delegates from fossil fuel firms and trade bodies went to Cop talks since 2003. The research found that disclosed employees of fossil fuel firms attended the conferences a minimum of 945 times.

Staff from the so-called big five — ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies — received at least 267 passes.