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UAE unlikely to act on protests by European and U.S. lawmakers over ousting climate envoy and oil company CEO Sultan Ahmed Jaber As chair of the COP28 UN climate conference expected to be held in Dubai in November.
More than 130 members of the US Congress and the European Parliament called on Jaber to resign from the incoming presidency on Tuesday. COP28 Climate ConferenceEmirates will host it at the end of the year.
In addition to being the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Technology and climate envoy, Al Jaber is CEO of state-owned ADNOC, one of the largest oil companies in the world. He is also Chairman of Masdar, a UAE renewable energy and green hydrogen company.
In a joint letter to the U.N., European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Joe Biden, politicians mainly from the green and progressive parties, warned that fossil fuel companies were exerting an “inappropriate influence” on climate talks. Influence”.
“The decision to appoint the CEO of one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies – which recently announced plans to increase production by 7.6 billion barrels of oil over the next few years, the fifth largest increase in the world – as chairman of COP28 – — risks derailing negotiations,” the letter read.
Politicians are also demanding new steps from the United Nations to limit the influence of companies, especially the fossil fuel industry, on future COPs. Signatories to the letter include U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as members of the Green Party in the European Parliament.
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, said a move against Jaber’s presidency was unlikely to succeed in the region.
“The Gulf countries have become frustrated by Western accusations. They have made it very clear that they do not intend to compromise the interests of Western countries,” Vakil told Al-Monitor.
“It is not hypocritical for the UAE to diversify its economy while taking the lead in tackling climate change at COP28. In fact, they see his role as important in bridging their interests and building support for energy companies,” she added .
Tom Evans, a policy adviser at think tank E3G’s Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics Project, said that with COP28 nearly six months away, the letter showed that the UAE “has not built enough trust to lead the negotiations in a fair way and with a commitment to climate change.” The result is an aspirational spirit free from the inherent bias of a domestic economy dominated by fossil fuels.”
But he said it was unlikely that the UAE would change its leadership ahead of the climate talks, not least because many governments backed al-Jabir for president.
Evans said the UAE will need to change the way it approaches the COP. “To build confidence in their presidency and confidence in the integrity of the negotiations, it is paramount for the UAE to demonstrate real climate leadership in their diplomacy,” he said.
“Leading the global push to phase out fossil fuels and scale up renewables, mobilize new financing for the energy transition in developing economies from its own vast sovereign Pioneering new ways of financing fragile states. These are ways in which the UAE can credibly push back against critics, while pushing countries to achieve ambitious outcomes at COP28.”
Many lawmakers defended Jaber’s presidency. US climate envoy John Kerry hailed him as a “fantastic choice” for the presidency, while Europe’s Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans said Jaber was “very well suited to lead us to a successful COP”.
Al-Monitor has contacted COP28 organizers for comment. The UN Climate Change Secretariat declined to comment on the letter when contacted by Al-Monitor.
This is not the first time Western politicians have protested the appointment of Jaber as COP28 president. Shortly after Jaber was appointed in January, 27 Democratic members of Congress wrote to Kerry demanding that the UAE withdraw its nomination for the oil company executive.
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