UAE makes oil boss Al Jaber head of COP28; activists say its worse than fox guarding the henhouse

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Thursday (January 12) that Sultan Al Jaber, the head of the country's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), would lead this year's COP28 climate summit. The UAE, which is a major Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil exporter, will be the second Arab country to host the climate summit after Egypt did last year. The summit will be held in November and December in Dubai.

As per a statement issued by Al Jaber's office, he will help shape the conference's agenda and intergovernmental negotiations to build consensus."Today, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber was announced to serve as COP28 UAE President. As President-Designate, Dr Al Jaber will partner with @UNFCCC Exec. Sec. Simon Stiell & Egyptian COP27 President Shoukry to develop the COP28 UAE agenda," his office tweeted.

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Jaber, who is serving as the UAE's minister of industry and technology, told the WAM news agency, "I sincerely believe that climate action today is an immense economic opportunity for investment in sustainable growth," and called for a pragmatic, realistic and solutions-oriented approach to limit global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Jaber is the UAE's climate envoy and has participated in 10 COP meetings so far. He is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Masdar,which is the UAE's renewable energy company,and has played an important role in shaping the country's clean energy path, news agency AFP reported on Friday (January 13) citing a statement.

While Jaber received congratulatory messages from several global leaders including United States' climate envoy John Kerry and COP 26 president Alok Sharma, his appointment as the president of the COP28 prompted sharp criticism from environmental activists.

Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University in the US, told AFP that the UAE is competing to be "the most efficient and lowest-cost source of fossil fuels as global production must diminish through the energy transition"."It will be challenging as COP president to unite countries around more aggressive action, while at the same time suggesting that other producers stop producing because UAE has you covered," Kyte said.

Harjeet Singh from the Climate Action Network International said Al Jaber's appointment posed an outrageous conflict of interest. Teresa Anderson, global lead on climate justice at ActionAid, told the news agency that the appointment goes beyond putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

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Meanwhile, the United Nations said the choice of the president was a matter for the UAE. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson of UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said, "It's important to note that whether it's the selection of which country hosts the COP, or which person presides over the COP, it is a matter for member states, in which the Secretary-General, or the secretariat of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) have absolutely no involvement."

"Having said so, the science is extremely clear. We are losing the battle to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. For his part, the Secretary-General reaffirms that there is no way to avoid such a climate catastrophe without ending our addiction to fossil fuels," Dujarric added.

(With agency inputs)