BENGALURU - The United Arab Emirates climate envoy and designated COP28 president said on Tuesday his country, which is due to host the summit later this year, was approaching the task with humility, responsibility and urgency.
“It is not a conflict of interest. It is in our common interest to have the energy industry working alongside everyone on the solutions the world needs,” Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who is also head of the state oil giant Adnoc, said at the India Energy Week conference. “The UAE COP presidency is listening and ready to engage.”
Sultan Jaber’s appointment to lead the climate summit this year fuelled activists’ worries that big industry was hijacking the world’s response to the global warming crisis.
The UAE, a major Opec oil exporter, will be the second Arab state to host the climate conference, after Egypt in 2022.
The UAE and other Gulf energy producers have called for a realistic energy transition in which hydrocarbons would keep a role in energy security while making commitments to decarbonisation.
“We cannot unplug the current energy system before we have built the new one,” said Sultan Jaber, who is the founding CEO of Abu Dhabi renewable energy firm Masdar before becoming Adnoc chief.
“We must minimise their carbon footprint, only invest in the least carbon intensive barrels and continue to reduce their intensity,” he added.
He also said developing nations had seen little justice so far when it comes to energy transition. He pointed to the loss and damage fund that was approved in COP27, and capital needed to fully operationalise it.
The deal to create the fund was hailed as a breakthrough for developing country negotiators at the Egypt summit last year but climate activists have since complained that the fund remains empty of cash.
The Nov 20-Dec 12 COP28 will be the first global stocktake since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015.
On Tuesday, Sultan Jaber said that eliminating energy poverty was essential alongside keeping the goal of capping global warming at 1.5 deg C alive. REUTERS
