COP28: “Be careful not to make the United Arab Emirates a sort of scapegoat,” warns François Gemenne, member of the IPCC

Thursday, November 30 marks the opening of COP28 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). A climate summit taking place in one of the biggest polluters in the world. “The COPs are organized according to a principle of geographical rotation, and therefore it is inevitable, obviously, that from time to time, it is the turn of a Middle Eastern country to organize this COP”explains François Gemenne, researcher specializing in migration and member of the IPCC, in 12/13 info Thursday. “I want to believe that the fact that the COP takes place in the Emirates can also be an opportunity to engage more [les pays producteurs de pétrole] in the exit from fossil fuels and in the energy transition”continues François Gemenne.

A “huge gap between words and actions”

In this summit, “Perhaps the biggest contradiction is embodied by COP President Sultan al-Jaber, who is both CEO of the national oil company and also chairman of Masdar, the major solar energy project in the United Arab Emirates “explains the researcher. “Be careful not to make the United Arab Emirates a sort of scapegoat, because in reality, no industrialized country today really wants to get away from fossil fuels”adds the member of the IPCC, who sees a “huge gap between words and actions”.