COP28: UAE accused of using UN climate summit to make backroom oil deals

Every year, several superpowers gather to discuss a unified, common policy to deal with the inevitability of climate change. However, this year it appears to be its most controversial yet, and not for the reasons you might be thinking.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference has been held annually since 1995. Also known as the Conference of the Parties (COP), it serves as an international meeting to assess how countries across the world deal with climate change.

In the past, it has championed initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocols, intending that industrialized nations reduce their greenhouse gas emission, and the more recent Paris Agreement.

However, despite its shiny, squeaky-clean goals, there’s been reports of some dirty business going on with backroom deals.

The 2023 climate summit, also known as COP28, is taking place in Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

According to The New York Times, having the United Nations climate summit take place in one of the biggest oil and gas exporters in the world as the host country has raised more than a few eyebrows.

However, that’s just the tip of the (rapidly-melting) iceberg. The New York Times reported that the leak of a 50-page document hints that the climate summit’s leader is using the conference to promote oil and gas deals behind the scenes.

Dr. Sultan Al-Jaber is the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates. Leaked documents suggest he may be using his position as president of the COP28 to make deals on oil and gas for the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

ADNOC, the 12th largest oil company in the world by production, happens to be headed by a man called Sultan Al-Jaber. It's not a coincidence, it's the same man!

The leaked document, originally made public by the Centre for Climate Reporting and the BBC, shows that Al-Jaber and his team were preparing to meet 27 foreign governments and included talking points about potential business ventures on oil and gas.

According to Reuters, Al-Jaber has strongly denied these accusations, presenting himself as a mediator between both sides on the fossil fuel debate, wishing to include the oil and gas industry in the conversation.

“I promise you, never ever did I see these talking points that they refer to or that I ever even used such talking points in my discussions.”, the UAE politician declared, per Reuters.

Amnesty International has been outspoken in its criticism about how much control the United Arab Emirates exhort on the 2023 United Nations climate summit.

“The UAE’s priority at COP28 appears to be greenwashing its fossil fuel expansion plans and massaging its own reputation by seeking to avoid discussion of its dismal human rights record and continuing abuses”, declared Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s director of Climate.

As the BBC explains, environmental activists such as Greta Thunberg have accused the UN Climate Change Conference of greenwashing, that is, countries and businesses promote their climate credentials without making the changes needed.

As climate change becomes more severe and temperatures rise to the point of no return, one can’t help but feel a certain mindset of “ruling over the ashes” stemming from the indifference and the inaction of governments and corporations.