A total of 425 civil society organizations and representatives of UNFCCC observer organizations have issued an open letter, expressing their widespread condemnation of the news that Sultan Al Jaber, an oil executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), would be in charge of this year’s UN climate talks taking place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November.
The signatories of the letter called for a COP28 president that is free and independent of fossil fuel influence, as well as an end to the undue influence that allowed his appointment in the first place.
In the letter which was addressed to the Parties of the UNFCCC, the Executive Secretary of the body, Simon Stiell, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, the constituencies and groups detail ADNOC’s outsized role in fueling the climate crisis, as well as the negligence of world governments in allowing polluters to steer the agenda of global talks.
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Gadir Lavadenz of the global campaign to Demand Climate Justice, a member of the global Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) network behind the letter, said: “Polluters have a role to play: stop polluting. They cannot be placed on a leadership pedestal and certainly not in a position to undermine and weaken policy. That is basically nonsense. The UNFCCC is not only reluctant to accept a straightforward conflict of interest policy, but it is undermining its already weak international trust year after year.”
The network of more than 450 organizations is urging the UNFCCC to adopt an Accountability Framework that prevents the biggest polluters in the world from dictating global climate policy.
Story was adapted from Enviro News.
