Sultan Al Jaber, the president of the UN Cop28 climate summit, has responded to reports accusing him of abusing his position in trying to sign oil deals with other governments, as the United Arab Emirates prepares to host the biggest Cop meeting yet.
Al Jaber’s role is to act as an “honest broker” for the 190-plus governments gathering at the global climate talks, charged with leading them to a successful conclusion. He is also the chief executive of UAE’s national oil company, Adnoc, and campaigners say the two roles are in conflict.
Recall that the Centre for Climate Reporting, an investigative journalism group, and the BBC released documents that appeared to show that meetings the Cop28 presidency had with other governments included “talking points” about the potential sale of oil and gas by Adnoc.
Addressing a small group of journalists in Dubai on the eve of the conference on Wednesday, Al Jaber described the allegations as false.
“They are not true, incorrect, not accurate. It’s an attempt to undermine the work of the Cop28 presidency … Never ever did I see these talking points or ever used such talking points in my discussions,”he said.
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He added: “Do you think the UAE or myself need the Cop or the Cop presidency to go and establish better deals or commercial relationships? This country over the past 50 years has been built around its ability to build bridges and create relationships and partnerships.”
But campaigners were unsatisfied with the response. Alice Harrison, who is the fossil fuel campaign lead at Global Witness, said: “The international climate process has been hijacked by the oil and gas industry. This leak must be the final nail in the coffin of the long debunked idea that the fossil fuel industry can play any part in the solution to the crisis that it created.”
More than 160 heads of state and government are expected to arrive in Dubai on Thursday and Friday to put the world on track to meet the target of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C (2.7F) above preindustrial levels.
King Charles is also expected to give an opening speech on Friday while the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, will also attend, as will Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, and presidents including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and India’s Narendra Modi.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
