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January 14, 2023 | 9:43 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The head of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company was named on Thursday as the chair of this year’s COP28 climate talks, prompting fierce criticism from environmental activists.
Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will become the first chief executive to hold the position at a United Nations summit, the official WAM news agency reported.
“I sincerely believe that climate action today is a huge economic opportunity to invest in sustainable growth,” he said, promising a “pragmatic” approach.
Al-Jabir, UAE Minister of Industry, is also the special envoy of the Gulf countries on climate change and has participated in more than 10 COP meetings.
He was chief executive of UAE renewable energy company Masdar and “has played a key role in shaping the country’s clean energy path,” the statement said.
US climate envoy John Kerry congratulated Al Jaber and called the UAE an “important partner” in the climate crisis.
“The road ahead will not be smooth, but I am optimistic that by early 2023 we will be able to meet the challenges of the climate crisis together,” Kerry said.
Stephen Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said the president’s choice was a matter for the UAE, adding: “The science is very clear.”
“The Secretary-General reiterates that climate catastrophe like this cannot be avoided without ending our dependence on fossil fuels,” he said.
COP27, held in Egypt in November, finally adopted a bitterly debated text on aid to poor countries affected by climate change, but failed to set new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The UAE, a major crude oil producer and one of the world’s most polluting countries per capita, will host the next edition in Dubai in November and December. It had the largest contingent of oil and gas lobbyists in last year’s talks.
– ‘The fox in charge of the chicken coop’ –
Activists were quick to criticize Al Jaber’s appointment.
This “constitutes a heinous conflict of interest”, said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the International Climate Action Network.
“This appointment is more than putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” said Teresa Anderson, global climate justice lead for campaign group ActionAid.
Rachel Kate, dean of the Fletcher School of International Affairs at Tufts University in the United States, warned that the UAE “is in a race to become the most efficient and cheapest source of fossil fuels as global production must be reduced through the energy transition”.
She added: “As COP chair, it will be challenging to unite countries to take more aggressive action while advising other producers to stop production because the UAE has you.”
“We don’t have a planetary space with mixed messages.”
The Gulf monarchy argues that oil remains indispensable to the global economy and is pushing the virtues of carbon capture — the removal of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, from the air when the fuel is burned.
It is one of the countries most affected by climate change because it is located in one of the hottest regions in the world, with summer temperatures approaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Parts of the Gulf could become too hot for human habitation by the end of the century, according to a study published in 2021.
The UAE has announced ambitious environmental initiatives, including plans to achieve 20 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030 and a fully operational nuclear power plant by 2024.
It aims to develop enough renewable energy to meet half its needs by 2050, when it aims to be domestically carbon neutral — excluding emissions from exported oil.
The Gulf state also predicts that the oil and gas industry will need to invest more than $600 billion a year by 2030 to meet projected demand.
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