what we know about the accusations of “conflict of interest” against Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the climate conference

Multiple caps for double play? In a BBC investigation, published Monday December 27, the president of COP28, the Emirati Sultan al-Jaber, is accused of having taken advantage of his position to conclude deals in fossil fuels. On the eve of the opening of the UN Climate Conference, which is being held from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai, franceinfo returns to these accusations which target the man who is also Emirati Minister of Industry and CEO of Adnoc, the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates.

BBC investigation draws on 150 pages of briefings

The BBC investigation is based on documents collected by journalists from the Center for Climate reporting (CCR). This center claims to have verified the authenticity of this report, obtained via a “alert launcher” remained anonymous for fear of reprisals. In total, this is a compilation of 150 pages of briefings prepared by the COP28 team for meetings with Sultan al-Jaber between July and October 2023. According to the BBC, these documents were written by the organizers Emiratis for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments before the summit.

They report “talking points” as one for China according to which the company Adnoc wishes “jointly evaluate international opportunities” in liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Mozambique, Canada and Australia. LNG is on the rise in Europe and around the world. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the European Union has in fact decided to do without Russian gas and has turned to American LNG. Problem: around 80% of LNG comes from hydraulic fracturing.

Document suggests reporting to Colombian minister that Adnoc “stand ready” to help the country develop its fossil fuel resources. According to the BBC, similar remarks concerning Egypt or Germany are found in other documents. In another note on Brazil, it is a question of obtaining information to align the Emirati price offer with that of a large Latin American company.

COP28 organization denounces “inaccurate” documents

“The documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 during meetingsreplied a COP28 spokesperson. It is extremely disappointing that the BBC is using unverified material.” According to the BBC, the UAE team did not dispute the use of COP28 meetings for business discussions and argued that “private meetings are private”.

According to the Center for Climate reporting and the BBC, more than a dozen countries contacted by the two organizations did not respond. Several took issue with trade talks with Sultan al-Jaber, despite talking points appearing on briefings prepared before the meetings. Five others say no meeting took place.

Environmental activists “shocked” but not surprised

“I can’t believe it’s true.”reacted the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, questioned by journalists. “Investigative journalists have confirmed some of the worst fears of those critical of the absurd nomination with the shocking news that the president-elect is using meetings he has held with nations around the world to sell more oil and gas “wrote former American vice-president Al Gore, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner, on the social network (ex-Twitter).

For Kaisa Kosonen, policy coordinator at Greenpeace International, the summit “should focus on moving forward on climate solutions in an unbiased way, not on back-end markets that fuel the crisis.” “This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared when the CEO of an oil company was appointed to this position”, she added. The decision of centrusting the presidency of COP28 to Sultan al-Jaber had in fact been severely criticized. These accusations should not fail to reignite the controversy.