COP28 President is the CEO of one of the World’s Largest Oil Companies
On 12th January 2023, the government of the United Arab Emirates ‘UAE’ announced that the President of the COP28 climate talks, in charge of negotiating the completion of the critically important “Global Stocktake” that will review where countries have got to in their commitments to reduce emissions, would be Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.
Critics immediately pointed out that “Sultan Al Jaber is Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the world’s twelfth-largest oil company by production, head of Masdar (also referred to as the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company), and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the UAE.
ADNOC proudly claims to produce 4 million barrels of oil per day. 11.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day. It’s CEO is therefore not an obvious choice to lead the world’s climate talks, if it plans to carry on that way, despite its investments in hydrogen, Masdar and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.
The Center for International Environmental Law issued the following reaction:
“The appointment of Sultan Al Jaber as President-Designate of this year’s upcoming UN climate conference is an outrageous illustration of the gross conflicts of interest currently dominating international climate policy.
“His appointment underscores the concern that civil society has raised repeatedly about corporate capture. As the unprecedented number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP27 made clear, UN climate conferences are increasingly serving the interests of big corporations, and particularly oil and gas companies. In doing so, they offer a platform for greenwashing initiatives and dangerous false solutions rather than advancing the phaseout of fossil fuels urgently required to avoid a catastrophic escalation of the climate crisis.
“This appointment is even more alarming as the UAE government aggressively curtails the rights and freedoms of civil society, preventing the expression of dissent.
“For the credibility and integrity of the climate negotiations, it’s imperative that Sultan Al Jaber resign from his roles as CEO of ADNOC and Masdar or decline the COP presidency, and that the UN adopt policies that would prevent further conflicts of interests in relation to the climate negotiations.”
That is certainly one way of looking at the appointment, and very understandable. But maybe this is a moment of opportunity as well as of crisis in the credibility of climate negotiations. The COP28 climate talks will be played out in front of the world and its media. Even the UAE cannot overwhelm them with lobbyists if they are hosts and President and not just sniping from the sidelines. Any cut corners, any weak and watered down compromises will be signed off under the scrutiny of a very sceptical world audience.
Very recent studies from Harvard show that Exxon Mobil was modelling climate change and global warming as early as the 1970s, precisely at the time that it was denying their existence in public. BP just made record profits and scaled back its emissions targets instead of boosting investment in clean energy. Big oil is beginning to look ungovernable, and the governments behind it unprincipled.
The UAE has huge power, huge wealth, and now it will assume major public responsibility. So what are the UAE’s answers to the IPCC’s science and the IAE’s call for an end to new oil and gas developments? What are its diplomatic capabilities to deliver the best outcomes on the Global Stocktake and adherence to the Paris Agreement goals? How can it convince the world and young climate activists that it has a way through the shattering effects of climate change that are happening around the world right now, today, and to use its great wealth and this conference to show the way to make a meaningful and just energy transition?
Starting with cast iron guarantees to ensure the full participation in the talks by civil society groups from around the world would be a good start. The level of public scrutiny may be unfamiliar to the UAE. Maybe the UAE as the host and President of COP28 will show us what we are really dealing with, and leave the world clearer as to what it needs to do.
Read more:
Climate change: UAE names oil chief to lead COP28 talks. BBC News
Outrage & Optimism Podcast talking about the appointment - link here.
The UAE must show political leadership in its Cop28 presidency - Christiana Figueres for the New Statesman.