Every year for nearly three decades, a country has hosted the UN climate summit, which seeks to advance international policy to confront the crisis caused by global warming. The nearly 200 nations participating in these negotiations agreed a few years ago that COP28 2023 would take place in the United Arab Emirates. And the host country is responsible for leading the negotiations and proposing a President of the COP. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, designated for this position, is the Minister of Industry of the Arab country, which has been attending these UN summits for years. The problem is that Al Jaber is also the CEO of public fossil fuel company ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company).
The proposal has sparked enormous controversy, although 10 months are still to go before the start of COP28, the date when the first official assessment of the progress of the Paris Agreement, signed at the 2015 summit in the French capital, will be taken. . His appointment will be made official at the beginning of the meeting, when negotiators from all countries ratify this proposal. But around 450 international environmental organizations asked this Wednesday to stop this appointment. “No COP overseen by a fossil fuel company executive can be considered legitimate. The COP presidencies must be free of any influence from fossil fuel companies,” these organizations stress in a letter they sent to António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. “Nobody should welcome this appointment. It poses a threat to the legitimacy and effectiveness of the COP28. If we have any hope of tackling the climate crisis, the COPs must not influence the fossil fuel industry [petróleo, gas y carbón]’ adds this letter.
But there were some international actors and politicians who welcomed the appointment. Like John Kerry, the Joe Biden administration’s commissioner on climate change, who publicly congratulated the sultan a few days ago. The US Democrat recalled that Al Jaber was “an experienced diplomat and businessman”. He also stressed that he is not only head of the Emirates’ state-owned oil company, but also president of Masdar, another state-owned company dedicated entirely to renewable energy. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also congratulated the sultan on Twitter on his appointment.
The Big Lie
The announcement coincided with the hardening of António Guterres’ speech against fossil fuel companies. Some of them were accused last week by the head of the UN of selling a “big lie” and concealing that their business was responsible for global warming. Behind climate change are the greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities, which mainly come from the burning of oil, gas and coal for energy production. “Like the tobacco industry, those responsible must be held accountable,” Guterres said at the Davos summit.
So far, however, the Secretary General has not wanted to comment on the controversial appointment of Al Jaber. In his communications office, they refer to the words uttered by Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretariat, a few weeks ago when questioned at a press conference on the subject. Dujarric reminded that the proposal to chair the summit is up to the host country and that the UN in general and the climate department in particular have “absolutely no involvement” in this process. This spokesman then recalled that Guterres’ position was clear: “There is no way to avoid such a climate catastrophe without ending our dependence on fossil fuels.”
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In their letter, the undersigned organizations – including Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción, Amigos de la Tierra and 350.org – recalled that ADNOC is the “12th largest oil producer in the world”. And he plans to continue increasing oil and gas production in the coming years. They warn that it is “one of the fastest growing fossil fuel companies due to the launch of new projects and the commissioning of new reservoirs and wells”. “His plans are inconsistent with statements by the International Energy Agency, which makes it clear that if you really want to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, there can be no new oil and gas production,” they stress.
The NGOs also recall that the last summit, held in late 2022 in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, was attended by at least 636 representatives of fossil fuel companies or interest groups. It is feared that the pressure from this sector will be much greater at COP28. “That this appointment can be seen as a benefit to the COP amid an increasingly severe climate crisis, with millions of lives and ecosystems at risk, is an example of just how much influence the big polluters continue to have over climate policy,” maintain these organizations. They denounce that “interests in fossil fuels have seeped into the UN Framework Convention”. “The harsh reality is that this appointment marks a turning point and is accelerating the loss of credibility of the convention,” said Lametan.
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