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Sultan al-Jaber, president-designate of the UN COP28 climate summit and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, launched a staunch defence against allegations that he used the United Arab Emirates’ position as host of the global event to discuss oil and gas deals, saying they were “false”.
Speaking in Dubai with less than a day to go before COP28 starts, Jaber said he had never seen nor used the briefing documents obtained by the non-profit Centre for Climate Reporting alongside the BBC, which outlined talking points for the COP president-designate to discuss possible fossil fuel deals with 15 countries including China, Brazil, Germany and Egypt.
“These allegations are false, not true, incorrect and not accurate. It is an attempt to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency,” Jaber told a media briefing at the Dubai Expo City venue for the UN climate summit.
“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,” he said, in response to questions.
The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers and a significant overseas investor, with a vast treasure chest in its sovereign wealth fund.
The Financial Times reported this week that the UAE had also struck deals worth about $200bn over the past year, including big renewable energy projects, prompting criticisms that is looking to influence decisions at COP28 reached by the almost 200 countries gathered.
“Do you think the UAE or myself would need the COP or the COP presidency to go and establish business deals or commercial relationships?” Jaber told reporters.
Every conversation he had conducted with every government or any stakeholders “was centred around one thing only”, he said, and that was how to keep alive a target to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C.
But he acknowledged that he had been called on to “engage” with governments and oil and gas companies. “And sometimes I am told ‘you can’t do that’. We are damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” he added.
Tens of thousands of delegates are expected for the two-week summit, with organisers saying up to 180 heads of state or government had registered to attend. The UK’s King Charles will give the opening address on Friday.
The UAE has come in for intense scrutiny since being chosen as the COP28 host a year ago over questions on whether one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers should oversee global climate negotiations.
EU climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra was circumspect in an interview with a small group of reporters on Wednesday. “What is very clear, which is true for UAE . . .[and for] everyone is the whole world is watching. There is no alternative, there is no way out and there is no escape route other than to deliver on ambition in full,” he said.
“Climate talks should be about one topic only and that is climate,” he added.
Under the landmark Paris agreement in 2015, countries globally agreed to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C and ideally to 1.5C since pre-industrial times.
This year’s UN climate summit is expected to include a fierce debate about the future role of fossil fuels, which are the biggest contributor to global warming when burnt.
Countries such as the EU, France and Ireland are pushing for a phaseout of fossil fuels, but others that are reliant on production, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and China, are expected to continue to push back.
Leading UN climate official Simon Stiell said world leaders must set out what “bolder actions” were needed to limit climate change. “COP28 cannot be just a photo op. Leaders must deliver in Dubai,” he said. “COP28 must show a clear agreement to leave fossil fuel dependency behind.”
Teresa Ribera, the Spanish minister responsible for dealing with climate, told the FT that the UN summit would only be a success if there was “an ambitious decision on mitigation”, or how to tackle global warming.
“The energy sector must be predominantly free of fossil fuels ahead of 2050,” Ribera added.
US climate envoy John Kerry said Washington supported calls for a phaseout of unabated fossil fuels, or those burnt without the emissions captured.
“We all know what the problem is. It is this burning of fossil fuel without abatement,” he said, adding that the US would be calling for much faster action on climate change at the summit. The US remains the world’s biggest oil and gas producer but has strived under the administration of President Joe Biden to shift its economy to green energy through $369bn worth of incentives.
“We’re going to have to move at a much, much faster rate and deploy many more trillions of dollars in order to achieve our goals, and that has to be hammered home every day relentlessly in an effort to get what we need to do to win this battle,” Kerry said.
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