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More than 100 U.S. lawmakers and members of the European Parliament have called for the removal of the head of the United Arab Emirates state oil company Adnoc as chair-designate for this year’s U.N. COP28 climate summit.
UAE as host country COP28Sultan al-Jaber was appointed earlier this year to lead a climate summit in Dubai at the end of November.
In a joint letter to U.N. officials and U.S. and European leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the lawmakers called for United Arab Emirates Rescission of Jaber’s appointment as oil executive risked “undermining negotiations”.
The group, made up of mostly Democrats in the US Congress and left-leaning members of the European Parliament, expressed “deep concern” over UN rules allowing private sector polluters to exert “undue influence” on the climate summit process.
Last year’s COP summit, hosted by Egypt, ended in disappointment to climate activists and many developed and developing countries.
Countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia have blocked efforts by a broad coalition of more than 80 countries, including the United States and the European Union, to include efforts to phase down all fossil fuels in a final agreement of nearly 200 countries.
“We note that at least 636 lobbyists from the oil and gas industry signed up for last year’s COP — an increase of more than 25 percent from the previous year,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.
“How their presence can impede climate action when attendees representing polluting corporate players outnumber nearly every country’s delegation.”
In its defence, COP28 said Jaber had a 20-year career in the “renewable energy field”, citing his role as chairman of state-owned renewable energy company Masdar.
As chief executive of Adnoc, Jaber was given a clear mandate to “transform, decarbonise and future-proof” the company, it said. He has also been involved in climate diplomacy for more than a decade, participating in 11 COP meetings, including where he led the UAE’s role at the Paris summit.
But under Jaber, Adnoc’s board last year also accelerated oil production by bringing forward capacity expansion from 2030 to 2027, signing off on $150 billion in capital spending over five years to 2027. Adnoc’s capex is earmarked for “low carbon solutions” compared to $15 billion by 2030.
The host country of the UN climate summit is getting more and more attention in terms of agenda and participants. This week, human rights groups criticized the UAE’s decision to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to COP28, which Amnesty International called a “hoax”.
US climate envoy John Kerry has previously defended “unfair” criticism of the UAE as COP28 organizer, saying it was important to bring oil producers into the UN climate talks.
In London on Tuesday, Kerry told the British parliament’s defense committee that he was optimistic about the potential of the United Nations to negotiate a meaningful diplomatic deal.
He said the U.S. hoped negotiators would be able to “determine the level of ambition we need to mitigate climate change” at COP28 “further than we have before.”
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