The United Arab Emirates planned to use its role as the host of UN climate talks, COP28 summit, as a chance to strike deals on oil and gas with multiple countries. COP28 aims to help limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius. The global climate talks are being hosted by the UAE in Dubai and are due to be attended by 167 world leaders.
According to a report by Centre for Climate Reporting, alongside BBC, the UAE team did not deny using COP28 for business talks, and reportedly said “private meetings are private”. It declined to comment on what was discussed and said it is focused on ‘meaningful climate action’.
However, the documents accessed by Centre for Climate Reporting journalists, prepared by UAE’s COP28 team, were for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments ahead of the summit that starts on November 30.
For instance, the document for China included talking points, stating that UAE’s state oil company, Adnoc, is willing to jointly evaluate international LNG opportunities in Mozambique, Canada and Australia, as mentioned in the BBC report. The documents, in their talking points, suggested telling a Colombian minister that Adnoc is ready to support Colombia develop its fossil fuel resources.
Similarly, there are talking points for 13 other countries, including Germany and Egypt, suggesting to them that Adnoc is ready to work with their governments to develop fossil fuel projects. UAE also prepared similar talking points for commercial opportunities for its state renewable energy company Masdar, with 20 countries, including UK, United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kenya.
The report further added that UAE’s COP28 team arranged a series of ministerial meetings with governments around the world to be hosted by COP28 president Dr Sultan al-Jaber. The leaked documents were prepared for Dr Jaber, who is also the CEO of Adnoc and Masdar. The documents had a summary of objectives for the meetings, including who he was about to meet and what issues to raise.
An email exchange seen by BBC asked COP28 staff members to always include Adnoc and Masdar talking points in the briefing notes. The COP28 team denied the allegations.
One nation followed up on the commercial discussions, but 12 told BBC that there was no discussion of commercial activities during the meetings.
The report added that attempting to do business during the COP process is a “serious breach of the standards of conduct” expected of a COP president. As per the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the cardinal principle for COP presidents and their teams is the obligation of impartiality. COP presidents are expected to act without bias, favoritism, self-interest, preference etc.
UAE’s COP28 team told BBC that Dr Jaber holds a number of positions alongside his role as the COP28 president-designate, which is public knowledge. It said that it would be a distraction to suggest that the work he has undertaken has not been focused on meaningful climate action.
Also read: COP28 presidency launches net-zero transition charter for private sector