New Delhi, Nov 27 : Less than two days ahead of the onset of two-week-long 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP28 negotiations hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, critics worry about COP President-Designate Sultan Al Jaber’s 'support' for fossil fuels amid the energy transition, a conflict of interest of the top climate negotiator tasked with saving the planet.

He’s the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), one of the world’s biggest oil companies.  According to a report by the BBC on Monday, the UAE planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks as an opportunity to strike oil and gas deals.

The BBC has learned from leaked briefing documents that reveal plans to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations.  The UN body responsible for the COP28 summit told the BBC hosts were expected to act without bias or self-interest.  Quoting the UAE team, the BBC said it did not deny using COP28 meetings for business talks, and said “private meetings are private”.  It declined to comment on what was discussed in the meetings and said its work has been focused on “meaningful climate action”.  As per the BBC story, ‘COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals’, the documents -- obtained by independent journalists at the Centre for Climate Reporting working alongside the BBC -- were prepared by the UAE's COP28 team for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments ahead of the COP28 summit, which starts on November 30.  They included proposed “talking points”, such as one for China which says Adnoc, the UAE’s state oil company, is “willing to jointly evaluate international LNG (liquefied natural gas) opportunities” in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.  The documents suggest telling a Colombian minister that Adnoc “stands ready” to support Colombia to develop its fossil fuel resources.  There are talking points for 13 other countries, including Germany and Egypt, which suggest telling them Adnoc wants to work with their governments to develop fossil fuel projects.  According to the BBC, the briefings show the UAE also prepared talking points on commercial opportunities for its state renewable energy company, Masdar, ahead of meetings with 20 countries, including the UK, United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kenya. 

Al Jaber has served as the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change since 2010, and has participated in 10 previous UN COP Summits.  He’s the CEO of the Adnoc and this is the first time a UN climate summit will be hosted by a serving CEO of an oil company.  Al Jaber is an influential member of the UAE government, holding roles as a Minister of Industry, CEO of the Adnoc and chairing the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, otherwise known as Masdar.  Born in 1973, the 49-year-old was educated in the US and the UK, and has been the face of the UAE’s energy sector over the last decade, setting up Masdar in 2006 while running the UAE government’s strategic investment arm. 

Al Jaber is not in the Royal family, making his rise all the more remarkable, and is known to have a strong global contacts book among world leaders and CEOs.  COP28 will be the third time, a major UN climate summit has been held in the Middle East, with Qatar (2012) and Egypt (2022) previous hosts.  According to the BBC, as part of the preparations for the conference, the UAE's COP28 team arranged a series of ministerial meetings with governments from around the world.