UAE unlikely to remove oil CEO as COP28 head despite Western protests
With his experience in both renewables and fossil fuels, the United Arab Emirates sees Sultan Al Jaber's role as important in bridging climate negotiators' interests and creating energy company buy-in.
The United Arab Emirates is unlikely to act on protests from European and US lawmakers to remove climate envoy and oil company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber as head of the COP28 UN climate conference expected to take place in Dubai in November.
On Tuesday, more than 130 members of the US Congress and European Parliament called for Jaber to step down as the president of the upcoming COP28 climate conference, which the Emirates is hosting at the end of the year.
As well as being the UAE’s minister of industry and technology and climate envoy, Jaber is CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world’s biggest oil companies. He is also chairman of Masdar, an Emirati renewable energy and green hydrogen company.
In a joint letter addressed to the United Nations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden, the politicians, mainly from Green and progressive parties, warn that fossil fuel companies are exerting “undue influence” over the climate talks.
