KARIM SAHIB / AFP
Sultan Al Javer, President of COP28 and the oil company Adnoc.
ENVIRONMENT – Three days before the opening of the climate summit, these revelations are a disgrace. According to a lengthy BBC investigation published on Monday, November 27, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who is also head of the oil company Adnoc, would have wanted to use his position at the COP to pursue fossil fuel deals to complete.
The BBC relies on documents collected by independent journalists who are members of the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR). The documents whose authenticity this center allegedly verified were obtained through a “whistleblower” who remained anonymous for fear of reprisals.
They were reportedly prepared by members of the UAE COP28 team to prepare for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments ahead of the summit, which begins on November 30. For example, one of the documents states that Adnoc “wants to evaluate together”. [avec la Chine] Opportunities for LNG [gaz naturel liquéfié] » in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.
In another case, it is proposed to ask a Colombian minister that Adnoc is “willing” to help the country develop its fossil fuel resources. These documents would contain relevant references to Egypt or Germany. Problematic because the purpose of the COPs is to find solutions to combat climate change.
“Private meetings are private”
A COP28 spokesperson responded that “the documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings” and that “it is extremely disappointing that the BBC is using unverified documents.” The UAE team simply responded that “private meetings are private.”
The election of the head of the Emirati oil company Adnoc as chairman of COP28 was widely criticized by environmentalists. This affair confirms her fears. “It is very worrying because images matter and there were already doubts about the presidency,” said former Irish President Mary Robinson, who is now active in environmental defense.
“We don’t have time for a bad cop. We need to make as much progress as possible because we are running out of time,” she added in the BBC investigation, and her comments were picked up by Irish daily The Independent.
“This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest that we feared when the general director of an oil company was appointed to this position,” regretted Kaisa Kosonen, political coordinator at Greenpeace International, in an interview with AFP. For them, the summit should “focus on the impartial development of climate solutions and not on background markets that are fueling the crisis.”
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