Dubai : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is hosting the 28th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai today. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company group CEO and UAE Minister for Industry Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is the president-designate of COP28. The climate summit is talking place amid worldwide concerns over threat from climate changes and the factors contributing to this.
Pressure to phase out fossil fuels mounted Thursday on the oil company chief who took over fragile international climate negotiations that opened in Dubai on Thursday in what some say are contradictory dual roles. Several nations, led by host UAE, have pledged more than $420 million for the fund, which took 30 years to approve.
United Nations and climate talks leaders might have relieved some of the pressure when negotiators unanimously approved much-fought over plans to launch and fund a program to compensate poorer nations hit by floods, storms, drought and other climate extremes. Leaders said they hope the quick win on a key financial issue would set a new tone for negotiations that had put the climate talks newly installed boss on the hot seat and not just because the planet keeps smashing heat records.
Days before the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) began, meeting preparation notes were published that linked efforts by the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC to push fossil fuel sales at the same time its CEO and new COP president, Sultan al-Jaber, was meeting to curb climate change. The burning of coal, oil and gas are chief causes of global warming.
Al-Jaber vehemently denied the revelations from the BBC on Wednesday, but several climate negotiations experts say it will likely change the tenor and maybe even the outcome of the two weeks of intense negotiations, taking place about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from where five offshore oil fields flow. More than 100,000 people were registered for the negotiations, more than double the previous high for these new U.N. talks.
"I think the pressure on the COP president to deliver is pretty clear and has been clear for months", German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said. "That's the focus here to deliver on really a course correction. Climate negotiations historian Joanna Depledge said, whether true or not, the revelations are embarrassing, but I don't think they put COP in jeopardy," he said. To the contrary, the hope is that the pressure on UAE will tighten.
It's understandable if the COP hosts, and other fossil fuel nations, were starting to feel the heat on this issue, said Mohamed Adow, of Power Shift Africa. "Fossil fuels are after all the elephant in the room and these countries can't go on trying to pretend they are not a problem. This extra scrutiny is certainly welcome. Al-Jaber's two positions were already a source of mistrust. The news coverage brings even more attention to the role of coal, oil and gas in climate change at climate talks and highlights efforts to eliminate use of fossil fuels", said World Resources Institute president Ani Dasgupta.