Dubai, United Arab Emirates—The Emirati oil chief leading this year’s UN climate talks said Tuesday he will introduce an “inclusive” plan for the meeting in Dubai, amid criticism by activists over his appointment.
Rights group Amnesty International has said Sultan Al Jaber is “unfit” for the COP28 presidency, being the CEO of state-owned oil giant ADNOC, while Western officials have defended his role in the crucial talks set for November and December.
Al Jaber told the annual World Government Summit event in Dubai that as “president, I will lay out a roadmap for COP28 that is inclusive, results-oriented and… very far from business as usual”.
“We will capitalize on our experience and our network of partners to engage with governments, civil society, youth, the financial community, industry and technology companies,” added Al Jaber, United Arab Emirates’ special envoy for climate change.
In a statement on Monday, Amnesty’s climate director Marta Schaaf said Al Jaber’s role at ADNOC made him “unfit to lead COP28”.
“Sultan Al Jaber cannot be an honest broker for climate talks when the company he leads is planning to cause more climate damage,” she said.
Al Jaber, 49, is also the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology and head of a leading renewable energy firm. A veteran of COP meetings, he is the first CEO to lead the summit.
His appointment last month was welcomed by US climate envoy John Kerry and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, who urged the world to get behind Al Jaber and focus on “concrete decisions”.
The last round of UN climate talks, hosted by Egypt, concluded in November with a deal to create a “loss and damage” fund to cover the costs that developing countries face from climate-linked natural disasters and impacts like rising sea levels.
But observers were left disappointed that little progress had been made on reducing planet-heating emissions from fossil fuels.
The UAE, one of the world’s biggest oil producers, argues that crude remains indispensable to the global economy and is needed to finance the energy transition.
The Gulf state is pushing the merits of carbon capture — removing carbon dioxide as fuel is burned, or from the air.
It is also spending billions on a green transition, aiming to cover half of its energy needs with renewables by 2050.