The Arab Emirates planned to take advantage of COP28 to reach oil and gas agreements with 15 countries
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) planned to use climate change COP28 to reach secret oil and gas deals with 15 countries, according to internal documents leaked to the Center for Climate Reporting and the BBC.. A spokesperson for COP28, which starts on November 30 in Dubai under the presidency of Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, assured that the documents in question are “incorrect” and were not used in meetings related to the climate summit.
The UN has been forced, however, to emphasize that the “fundamental principle” of the Cops is “the obligation of impartiality”, and that its presidents must act “without bias, prejudice, favoritism, self-interest or preferences, using strictly their independent and sound judgment”.
The news has once again put Sultan Al-Jaber's controversial dual role in the spotlight, as president of COP28 and as executive director of Adnoc, the fourth largest fossil fuel company in the world.. Al Jaber also serves as UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and is his country's official representative on climate change.
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According to the BBC, the documents in question (verified as “authentic” by British public television) were prepared by the COP28 team for supposed meetings with representatives of at least 27 countries such as China, Mozambique, Canada and Australia (the latter for examine the opportunities of “liquefied natural gas”).
The 150 pages also mention Adnoc's “availability” to support Colombia's “development of its fossil fuel resources” (despite President Gustavo Petro's commitment to accelerate his country's energy transition).. Germany and Egypt are other countries specifically mentioned in the fossil energy chapter.
The documents also reveal the UAE's alleged intention to take advantage of the climate summit to boost its “commercial opportunities” for the state renewable energy company, Masdar, in around twenty countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, China. , Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Kenya.
The objectives of tripling the installed capacity of renewable energies in 2030 and the “progressive elimination of fossil fuels without capture” are two of the hot points that will be debated by the 167 countries that will send their delegations to the COP28 in Dubai, which will foreseeably have the intervention of Pope Francis and King Charles III.
Despite Sultan Al-Jaber's commitment to make COP28 “the turning point” in action on climate change, criticism of his country's double standards threatens to tarnish the summit. According to The Guardian, the United Arab Emirates currently has the largest oil and gas exploration expansion plans in the world in the coming years, despite its commitment to zero emissions by 2050.
“This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared,” said Kaisa Kosonen, a climate change expert at Greenpeace.. “If the presidency wants to have any credibility, it can only do so by reaching a global agreement for the fair and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels.”
“The host country of the Cops assumes a deep responsibility before the global community and must be an example of integrity,” warned Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network.. Other organizations, such as Amnesty International, have called for Al-Jaber to resign as executive director of Adnoc in order to serve as president of Cop28.