UAE appoints oil chief as president sparks backlash

The head of state oil major Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world’s largest oil companies, will host the COP28 climate talks in Dubai later this year, the United Arab Emirates announced on Thursday.

Sultan al-Jaber’s appointment as COP28 president-designate has sparked a backlash from climate activists and civil society groups. Many have called on the oil chief to relinquish his role as ADNOC chief executive, saying it presents a clear conflict of interest with his position at COP28.

The office of al-Jaber — who also serves as the UAE’s minister of industry and technology and the country’s climate envoy — Say He will play a key role in intergovernmental negotiations to reach consensus at the meeting.

The United Arab Emirates, the OPEC oil alliance’s third-biggest producer, will host UN-brokered climate talks from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

In a statement confirming his appointment, al-Jaber said: “The UAE is approaching COP28 with a strong sense of responsibility and the highest possible ambition.”

“Pragmatism and constructive dialogue must be at the forefront of our progress,” he added.

Al-Jaber’s office said the minister had played an “active and engaged role” at more than 10 COP summits, drawing on his two decades of business and leadership experience in government, climate policy, and renewables and energy. It’s working.

The designation sparked a wave of international criticism:

“This appointment goes beyond putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop,” said Teresa Anderson, global head of climate justice at development charity ActionAid.

“The UN climate summit was supposed to be the place the world held polluters accountable, but increasingly [it’s] Hijacked by people with opposing interests. As at last year’s summit, we are increasingly seeing fossil fuel interests taking control of the process and adapting it to suit their own needs,” Anderson said.

Tasneem Essop, head of the Climate Action Network, which includes more than 1,500 civil society groups, said al-Jaber “cannot preside over a process aimed at addressing the climate crisis with this conflict of interest.” .”

In the comment quoted protectorEssop added that al-Jaber’s appointment “equates to a sweeping capture of the UN climate talks by the oil state Petroleum Corporation and its associated fossil fuel lobbyists”.

Bill McGuire, emeritus professor of geophysics and climate hazards at University College London, said via Twitter that the COP “has always been a circus. Now they’re a complete joke”.

“We need independent permanent bodies focused on energy, transport, deforestation, loss and destruction, etc., working year-round,” he added. “Not this bloated festival of world leaders photo shoots and oil executives.”

The UAE climate change envoy and a spokesman for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were not immediately available for comment.

Last November’s COP27 conference in Egypt saw a sharp increase in attendees linked to the world’s biggest polluting oil and gas majors. It was described at the time as “twisted joke“This represents the ability of the fossil fuel industry to influence litigation.

The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas is the main driver of the climate emergency.

The upcoming COP28 summit will be the first global stocktaking since the landmark conference Paris agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Beyond this critical upper temperature limit, small changes are more likely to trigger large changes in Earth’s entire life-support system.

The UAE was the first Middle Eastern country to ratify the Paris Agreement and pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century.