UAE names oil company chief to lead UN’s COP 28 climate talks

Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Co., will preside over the following spherical of local weather talks in Dubai.

Al-Jaber is veteran technocrat who additionally oversees the state-run oil firm's efforts in renewable power [File: AETOSWire/AP Photo]

The United Arab Emirates has named a veteran technocrat who each leads Abu Dhabi’s state-run oil firm and oversees its renewable power efforts to preside over the upcoming United Nations local weather negotiations in Dubai.

Emirati authorities on Thursday nominated Sultan al-Jaber, a confidant of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who serves as CEO of the Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Co.

His agency pumps some 4 million barrels of crude a day and hopes to develop to five million every day, producing extra of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide that the UN annual local weather negotiations intention to restrict.

The Emirates’ state-run WAM information company made the announcement, noting al-Jaber’s years additionally serving as a local weather envoy.

“This can be a crucial yr in a crucial decade for local weather motion,” WAM quoted al-Jaber as saying. “The UAE is approaching COP28 with a robust sense of accountability and the very best potential stage of ambition.”

“We'll convey a practical, real looking and solutions-oriented method that delivers transformative progress for local weather and for low-carbon financial progress,” he added.

In its announcement about al-Jaber, WAM stated the Emirates had invested “greater than $50bn in renewable power initiatives throughout 70 nations, with plans to speculate a minimal of $50bn over the following decade”. It wasn’t instantly clear the place these figures got here from.

Jaber additionally led inexperienced initiatives together with a $22bn “carbon-neutral” metropolis on Abu Dhabi’s outskirts. The mission was halted after the worldwide monetary disaster that struck the Emirates laborious starting in 2008.

He serves because the chairman of Masdar, a clear power firm that grew out of the mission and now operates in additional than 40 nations.

His nomination drew fast criticism.

Harjeet Singh, who's the top of World Political Technique at Local weather Motion Community Worldwide, stated Jaber holding the CEO title on the state oil firm posed “an unprecedented and alarming battle of curiosity”.

“There could be no place for polluters at a local weather convention, least of all presiding over a COP,” Singh stated.

Alice Harrison of World Witness put it much more bluntly.

“You wouldn’t invite arms sellers to steer peace talks. So why let oil executives lead local weather talks?”, she stated.

The UAE will take over the UN local weather talks presidency from Egypt on the finish of November subsequent yr when it would host the summit on the location of the Dubai Expo.

Yearly, the nation internet hosting the Convention of the Events – the place COP will get its identify – nominates an individual to chair the talks, who's normally confirmed by delegates at the beginning of the talks with out objections.

Egypt held final yr’s occasion within the Crimson Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Human rights teams repeatedly condemned Egypt’s file below President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and famous the state’s illegal surveillance and intimidation techniques on the occasion in November.

Out of a complete of 20 sponsors or companions on the local weather summit, company watchdogs recognized 18 as both immediately supporting or partnering with the fossil gas business.

Outstanding activist Greta Thunberg refused to attend COP27, which she stated was a discussion board for “greenwashing”.