BONN: UN Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell appreciated the “unique insight” of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil executive on Tuesday, whose naming as president of the important COP28 climate summit has outraged experts and advocates.
Speaking to AFP during climate talks in Germany, top UN climate official said Sultan al-Jaber, who is the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (AOC), also has immense experience in developing renewable energy and is completely familiar with the long-running UN negotiations.
The process under which around 200 countries grapple with how to halt global warming and cope with its severe effects “is inclusive,” the official said six months ahead of the key COP28 conference in Dubai.
He added that one individual, one entity, or one country does not have all of the answers, it needs the knowledge and input of all.
Stiell said that having Dr. Sultan al-Jaber’s experience, his knowledge of the sector, and what he has done both in terms of the gas and oil sector but also renewables provides him a unique insight.
Reaction to host UAE’s appointment of Sultan al-Jaber in January as COP28 summit president has caused criticism among climate experts and green groups and calls for him to step aside.
In May, over 100 lawmakers from the US and in the European Union inked an open letter to United States President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen requesting them to pressure the UAE to remove al-Jaber.
Position conflicting with UN core mission
Burning fossil fuels is by far the sole largest driver of global warming, and his position as an oil executive in one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world is seen by many as contradictory with the core mission of the UN negotiations.
At the same time, Sultan Al-Jaber has gotten ringing endorsements from climate stalwarts like US climate ambassador John Kerry, and former mayor of New York and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg.
Stiell himself knows Sultan al-Jaber from the climate circuit, where as minister for environment minister of Grenada for 5 years — he campaigned aggressively for rapid decarbonization and spoke on behalf of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world.
The UN chief said the controversy about al-Jaber could be an “opportunity” to confront directly the question of how to tackle with fossil fuels, which are not even mentioned in the 2015 Paris Accord.
