The United Arab Emirates is using COP28 to benefit its oil business

It has already been known that fossil fuel industry lobbyists are using the climate summit to lobby for their benefit. But the new scandal is escalating to another level. The United Arab Emirates, the host country of COP28, planned to take advantage of climate change negotiations to According to leaked documents, enter into oil deals with at least 15 other countries.

COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference, will take place from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai. The main goal of the meeting, as every year, is consider plans to reduce emissions of polluting gases, main drivers of global warming.

The dispute has already been filed. Not only because the United Arab Emirates is one of the ten largest oil-producing countries. In addition, the host country is appointed by the President of COP28. Sultan Al Jaber, director of the state oil company ADNOC. “This is the equivalent of appointing a tobacco company CEO to oversee a cancer treatment conference,” the global campaign 350.org condemned in January.

Leaked documents received Climate Reporting Center (CCR) and BBC, are briefing reports prepared by the COP28 team for bilateral meetings between Al Jaber and the governments of 27 countries. The meetings took place in preparation for the summit in July-October this year. Among some of the issues related to climate issues, these notes include: “Talking points” and “requests” from ADNOC and Masdar, the UAE’s renewable energy company, which is also led by Al Jaber. “The fox is guarding the henhouse,” Amnesty International reported this Monday.

Agreements with China and Colombia at COP28

Among the proposed “talking points” is one on China, which states that oil company ADNOC is “ready to jointly evaluate international LNG (liquefied natural gas) opportunities” in Mozambique, Canada and Australia. Another option, reflected in more than 100 pages of leaked documents, suggests telling Colombian officials that ADNOC is “ready” to help develop its oil and gas reserves.

There are topics for discussion in 13 other countries, including Germany and Egypt.. In all these cases, it is suggested that they be told that ADNOC wants to work with their governments to develop fossil fuel projects. They also include talking points for Masdar’s potential climate summit deals with 20 countries, including the UK, US, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Kenya.

Various forecasts suggest that the 1.5°C warming target, one of the Paris Agreement targets, will soon be exceeded. A new study published at the end of October estimates that this will happen in 2029. Fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal are to blame. When burned for energy, they release gases that cause the greenhouse effect, which warms the planet.

The world needs to cut emissions by 28% by 2030 if we are to even avoid warming above 2°C. But the strategies of the world’s 20 largest oil and gas companies are estimated to lead to pollutant emissions by early 2023. will exceed the maximum levels by 173% by 2040. Already in 2022 they exceeded them by 112%. Hence the scandal that the climate summit is being used to stimulate the oil industry.

What do COP28 organizers say about the leak?

In preparation for the climate summit, the UAE team organized a series of pre-ministerial meetings with governments around the world. As usual, these meetings are chaired by the COP28 President. In this case, Sultan Al Jaber.

The climate summit president’s responsibility is to encourage governments to be as ambitious as possible in reducing emissions of polluting gases. And thus guarantee strong agreements during the summit. Leaked news suggests that Al-Jaber may have used these meetings to benefit oil companies Adnoc and Masdar. And harm climate change goals.

The COP28 team, led by the host country, He did not deny that he had used previous bilateral meetings regarding the summit for trade talks. Responding to the allegations, a COP28 spokesperson said: Al Jaber “holds several positions in addition to his role as COP28 President Designate. This is generally known information. “Private meetings are private and we do not comment on them.”

In Al Jaber’s meeting with Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva, Al Jaber tried to put pressure on moving forward with ADNOC’s proposal for Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem. “It is important for us to ensure that the agreement is agreed upon and supported at the highest level,” the leaked report said. It also included a request for Silva’s “support” to facilitate a conversation with the relevant minister. Earlier this month, ADNOC submitted a new bid to become Braskem’s majority shareholder, according to a report Reuters.

What did the UN say and what will happen to the climate summit?

The CCR also reviewed internal emails and meeting minutes that raise further questions about the independence between the COP28 team and ADNOC. The summit team members were informed that the summit theses The two companies Al Jaber is involved in – Adnoc and Masdar – “should always be included” in negotiations, according to emails reviewed and verified by CCR. The COP28 team said this was false.

The keeper In June, it was revealed that employees of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company had access to emails from a climate summit. The COP28 office said its postal system is “independent” and “separate” from ADNOC’s. However, technical analysis showed that the office shared servers with the state oil company. Then The keeper After publishing their research, the COP28 office switched to another server.

At least 12 countries reported this BBC who did not discuss commercial activities during meetings with Al Jaber or that the meeting did not take place. Among them is Great Britain. Leaked documents claim the COP28 president has been told to “seek government support” to double the size of a Norfolk wind farm in which Masdar has a stake. A dozen more countries decided not to respond to the request for information.

The UN Climate Secretariat responded to the controversy by saying that the “fundamental principle” for climate summit presidents is “obligation of impartiality”. lThe office said that “presidents must act without prejudice, favoritism, caprice, self-interest, favor or deference, based strictly on sound, independent and fair judgment.”

Another missed opportunity?

Al Jaber’s appointment as COP28 chair was always “a clear conflict of interest that undermines the meeting’s ability to achieve the outcome we urgently need,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “The stakes are high: our planet is warming at an unprecedented rate, many people are already suffering, and the rights of billions of people are at risk.”

2023 will be the hottest year on record. If business as usual continues, global temperatures will rise 2.5 to 2.9°C above pre-industrial levels this century.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, president of the COP20 held in Peru in 2014, fears the scandal will lead to a collapse of confidence at the climate summit. “The President of the CoP is the leader of the world and he is trying to reach consensus on behalf of the planet,” he said BBC. “If any president of the Constitutional Court tries to promote a certain interest, a commercial interest, this could mean the failure of the Constitutional Court.”