“The UAE approaches COP28 with a strong sense of responsibility and the highest possible ambition,” Al Jaber said in a statement confirming his appointment as the next COP28 president.
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Thursday that the head of state-run oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world's largest oil companies, will lead the COP28 climate change conference to be held in Dubai later this year.
Sultan Al Jaber's appointment as the next COP28 president has sparked a backlash from environmental activists and civil society groups, with many calling for the oil chief to step down from his role as ADNOC CEO due to a clear conflict of interest with his COP28 position.
The office of Al Jaber, who is also the UAE's minister of industry and technology and the country's special envoy for climate change, said he would play a crucial role in intergovernmental negotiations to forge an agreement at the conference.
The UAE, OPEC's third-largest oil producer, is hosting a UN-brokered climate change conference from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.
This appointment means more than putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
Theresa Anderson
ActionAid Global Climate Justice Lead
“The UAE approaches COP28 with a strong sense of responsibility and the highest possible ambition,” Al Jaber said in a statement confirming his appointment.
“Pragmatism and constructive dialogue must be at the forefront of our progress,” he added.
Al Jaber's office said he has played an “active participatory role” at more than 10 COP summits and brings 20 years of business and leadership experience in government, climate policy and the renewable energy sector to the role.
The designation sparked a wave of international criticism.
“This appointment is much more than letting the fox manage the hen house,” said Theresa Anderson, global lead for climate justice at development charity ActionAid.
“The UN climate summit is supposed to be where the world holds polluters accountable, but [it’s] “It's being hijacked by competing interests. Increasingly, like with last year's summit, we're seeing fossil fuel interests taking control of the process and shaping it to meet their needs,” Anderson said.
“Total control of UN climate change talks”
Tasneem Essop, executive director of the Climate Action Network, which represents more than 1,500 civil society organisations, said Al-Jaber “cannot lead a process tasked with tackling the climate crisis with such conflicts of interest.”
In comments quoted by the Guardian, Essop added that Al Jaber's appointment “amounts to a total takeover of UN climate change talks by the national oil company and its associated fossil fuel lobbyists.”
“COP has always been a circus. Now it's a complete joke,” Bill Maguire, emeritus professor of geophysics and climate hazards at University College London, said on Twitter.
“We need an independent, permanent body that operates all year round, focusing on energy, transport, deforestation, loss and damage,” he added. “We don't need high-profile festivals with photo ops for world leaders and gatherings of oil company executives.”
Asked to respond to the criticism, a spokesperson for the UAE Climate Envoy's Office told CNBC that Al Jaber's experience “uniquely positions him to bring together both the public and private sectors to deliver practical solutions to achieve the goals and aspirations of the Paris Climate Agreement.”
He added: “The UAE is committed to an inclusive COP process and the COP Presidency will act as a global chair. The UAE COP Presidency is committed to working with all stakeholders and to being open, transparent and accountable.”
A spokesman for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was not immediately available to comment.
First global assessment since the Paris Agreement
COP27, held in Egypt last November, saw a surge in attendance linked to the world's biggest polluting oil and gas companies, described at the time as a “wry joke” that showed the power of the fossil fuel industry to influence the proceedings.
The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas is the main cause of the climate crisis.
The upcoming COP28 summit will be the first global review since the landmark Paris Agreement, a 2015 pact that aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Beyond this critical temperature limit, small changes are likely to cause dramatic shifts throughout Earth's life support systems.
The UAE was the first Middle Eastern country to ratify the Paris Agreement, committing to achieving net-zero emissions by the middle of the century.
