The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the host of the next UN climate summit, COP28, has been accused of hypocrisy and conflicts of interest by climate experts and campaigners, who say the country is undermining global efforts to phase out fossil fuels.
The UAE is one of the world’s biggest oil and gas exporters, and plans to increase its production capacity in the coming years, despite the urgent need to cut emissions to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
The designated president of COP28 is Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the head of the UAE’s national oil and gas company, Adnoc. In a speech in May, he said the focus of the summit should be on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, not fossil fuels themselves, implying the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to bury CO2 underground.
The COP 28 summit is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi from November 27 to December 8, 2023. It is expected to be a crucial moment for the world to ramp up its climate ambition and action, following the disappointing outcome of COP 27 in Egypt, where countries failed to agree on a strong commitment to limit warming to 1.5C.
However the UAE refused all these allegations.