Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, until now CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), a state-owned company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), considered the fourth largest oil company in the world, has been appointed by his country as president of the Conference Conference on Climate Change (COP28) to be held from November 30 to December 12 of this year in Dubai.
The appointment of an oil magnate as president of a world summit on climate change is a great paradox, but it must be remembered that the UN has established that this position of the annual meetings of the member countries of the Framework Convention on Climate Change corresponds to the government of the host country, in this case the UAE.
The appointment of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber would be justified because, in addition to ADNOC’s executive director, he is also the UAE’s minister of industry and technology and his country’s representative for climate issues at various international meetings in recent years. The future chairman of the UN climate summit, “will help develop the COP28 agenda and play a central role in intergovernmental negotiations to build consensus,” according to an official UAE statement released by Reuters.
Also in his defense, official sources have indicated that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is CEO and founder of the Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar, in which ADNOC has a 24% stake.
After Egypt, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, a major oil-exporting country and member of OPEC, will be the second Arab state to host the UN climate change conference, after Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27). ) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2022.
Various sectors have criticized the outcome of COP27, considering that fossil fuel producers benefited from the comprehensive treatment of Egypt, an exporter of natural gas and a frequent recipient of funds from oil-producing countries in the Persian Gulf, he points out. Reuters.
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The United Arab Emirates and other Gulf energy producers have called for a “realistic” energy transition in which hydrocarbons continue to play a role in ensuring energy security while committing to decarbonisation.
Demands by environmental groups and scientists that the government and companies keep oil and gas underground have gained less momentum since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and Europe’s scramble for energy security.
exhibition city
The choice of the United Arab Emirates as the host country of the 28th conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on climate was approved in November 2021 after long negotiations. In June 2022, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced that Expo City Dubai will host this international meeting.
