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abu dhabi national oil company
'Dystopian': UAE Used Global Climate Summit to Push $100 Billion in New Oil Deals
"Make no mistake, COP28 was hijacked by the interests of the fossil fuel industry," said one campaigner.
Jun 05, 2024
A new analysis released by human rights and anti-corruption group Global Witness on Wednesday left no room for doubt, said one campaigner, that the host country of last year's United Nations climate summit, the United Arab Emirates, prioritized fossil fuel interests over the planet.
"Make no mistake, COP28 was hijacked by the interests of the fossil fuel industry," said Patrick Galey, senior investigator for Global Witness, referring to the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The analysis showed that the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) used the COP28 presidency of its CEO, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, to seek deals worth nearly $100 billion with oil, gas, and petrochemical companies in at least 12 countries.
Fossil fuel firms, said Galey, "weren't content simply to block or stall genuine climate policy but used the opportunity to pursue more climate-wrecking oil and gas deals."
Al Jaber previously denied that ADNOC used COP28 to further its business interests after a leak of briefing documents that instructed the company to discuss fossil fuel deals with at least 16 states that were present at the talks.
According to Global Witness, the company sought deals with at least 11 of those countries and at least one other that had not been included in the leaked documents.
The group's investigation found that the UAE redoubled its investment in oil and gas in Egypt in 2023, the year Al Jaber presided over COP28. ADNOC finalized a deal with TotalEnergies Marketing Egypt, purchasing a 50% stake in the company for a reported $200 million—resulting in the UAE now jointly operating 240 service stations across the country and contributing to its record profits posted in 2023.
Other deals sought by ADNOC with COP28 participants include a joint venture with BP to buy a 50% stake in NewMed Energy in Israel and multiple bids for a stake in Braskem, the largest petrochemical producer in Latin America. The company is part-owned by Brazil's state-run oil and gas producer Petrobas.
ADNOC also finalized deals worth an estimated $17 billion with Lukoil in Russia and Wintershall in Germany to develop the Hail and Ghasha gas field in the UAE.
Global Witness' findings bolstered a report by the Center for Climate Reporting and the BBC in November, which showed Al Jaber used his position at COP28 to push for fossil fuel deals with foreign governments.
The report confirms the worst fears of climate campaigners, who were incensed in early 2023 when Al Jaber was named the president of the U.N.'s largest annual climate conference and warned of conflicts of interest due to his position at the helm of ADNOC.
As it turns out, said Galey, "the UAE knew exactly what it was doing and was not let down—COP28 seems to have been molded towards the benefit of its state oil company."
"As depressing as it is dystopian, climate talks must never be allowed to create more climate chaos," he added.
The analysis was released weeks after U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) led 24 Democratic lawmakers in writing to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Senior Advisor John Podesta, urging them to support conflict of interest guidelines ahead of COP29, which is scheduled to take place in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
With Mukhtar Babayev, the country's ecology and natural resources minister who worked for a state-owned oil and gas company for more than 20 years, set to preside over the conference, Galey said that "COP28 seems to have provided other petrostates with a sinister playbook to copy and paste from."
"As the UAE passes the baton onto Azerbaijan, we are now looking at the possibility of consecutive COPs being hijacked for the interests of big polluters and their profits," said Galey, noting that scientists have warned the planet is "dangerously close" to heating that exceeds 1.5°C.
Global Witness pointed to recently announced plans to partially privatize the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) ahead of COP29, "with its downstream and petrochemical subsidiaries made available to help attract foreign investments."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who signed the letter spearheaded by Merkley and Schakowsky, said Global Witness' report "is a disturbing warning about the potential for further fossil fuel corruption at COP29, which incredibly will also be hosted by another fossil fuel executive."
"I will continue urging the U.S. and UNFCCC to adopt new policies to prevent these absurd conflicts of interest that frustrate the international community's work to address the urgent threats of climate change," she said.
Global Witness reached out to ADNOC, SOCAR, and COP29 for comment regarding its investigation, and was told that ADNOC is working to "secure, reliable, and responsible supply of energy to support a just, orderly, and equitable global energy transition and that allegations regarding Al Jaber's deal-making at COP28 are "false, not true, incorrect, and not accurate."
A COP29 spokesperson said Azerbaijan is "100% committed to bringing countries together with the ambition of keeping the 1.5° target within reach."
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), said in a statement Wednesday that Babayev should be removed "from any leadership role at COP29."
"It is an absolute scandal that the UNFCCC has two years running put an oil and gas executive in charge of this event," she said, "thus putting foxes in charge of the henhouse."
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COP28 Head Claims There's 'No Science' Behind Fossil Fuel Phaseout
"This dismisses decades of work by IPCC scientists," said one expert. "Disgraceful."
Dec 04, 2023
Scientists and climate advocates responded with outrage Sunday to COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber's claim that there is "no science" behind the push to rapidly phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, which Al Jaber's company is extracting on a large scale.
Al Jaber's comments, first reported by The Guardian on Sunday, came in response to questioning from Elders chair Mary Robinson during a virtual She Changes Climate discussion. Robinson told Al Jaber that "we're in an absolute crisis that is hurting women and children more than anyone... and it's because we have not yet committed to phasing out fossil fuel."
The COP28 chief and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) CEO responded dismissively, saying he "accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation" and not to take part in "any discussion that is alarmist," according to audio published by The Guardian.
"There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what's going to achieve 1.5°C," Al Jaber added. "Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phaseout of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves."
That position runs directly counter to the outspoken stance of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who said Friday that "the 1.5°C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels," arguing that "the science is clear."
Joelle Gergis, a climate scientist and lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, called Al Jaber's remarks "disgraceful."
"This dismisses decades of work by IPCC scientists," Gergis wrote on social media.
"'Sending us back to caves' is the oldest of fossil fuel industry tropes: it's verging on climate denial."
The IPCC, which has synthesized the research of hundreds of climate scientists from around the world, has argued that any successful effort to prevent catastrophic planetary warming "will involve a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use."
"More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use has led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels," the IPCC said following the release of its latest report earlier this year. "This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world."
Other recent research has warned that rich nations must completely halt oil and gas production by 2034 to give the world a 50% chance of limiting warming to the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement.
Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, toldThe Guardian that Al Jaber's response to Robinson was "extraordinary, revealing, worrying, and belligerent."
"'Sending us back to caves' is the oldest of fossil fuel industry tropes: it's verging on climate denial," said Hare.
Al Jaber's comments, which he says have been misrepresented, were seen as further confirmation that he is ill-suited to lead a climate summit given his simultaneous role as the top executive at one of the world's largest fossil fuel firms. A Global Witness analysis released over the weekend found that ADNOC is on track to become the second-largest oil producer in the world by 2050, and Al Jaber has been accused of using his position as COP28 president to pursue oil and gas deals.
"ADNOC plans to produce more oil than any of the 'Big 5' supermajors—ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies," Global Witness found. "In fact, its projected output will positively dwarf that of the European majors; ADNOC's 35.9 billion barrels is 49% higher alone than the projected 24.1 billion barrels production of Shell, BP, and Total combined."
On Monday, the COP28 presidency published a summary of the World Climate Action Summit, a gathering of more than 150 heads of state aimed at facilitating coordinated climate action.
The document states that world leaders "highlighted the opportunities to cut emissions in every sector and to accelerate the technology innovation to address scope 3 emissions, as well as the phase-down of fossil fuels in support of a transition consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C."
Romain Ioualalen, global policy lead at Oil Change International, said in a statement that "strong support from the leaders' summit to address fossil fuels in the final COP28 agreement is a promising sign, but it is just good enough."
"Leaders must raise their ambition above a phase-down, and agree to immediately stop new fossil fuel expansion, and build a fast, full, fair, and funded phaseout of all fossil fuels while rapidly phasing in renewables," said Ioualalen. "Contrary to the COP28 president's assertions, the science is abundantly clear that warming will continue as long as we keep producing and burning fossil fuels."
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'A Real Scandal': COP28 President Used Role to Pursue Fossil Fuel Deals
"This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared when the CEO of an oil company was appointed to the role," said a Greenpeace campaigner.
Nov 27, 2023
Internal records leaked by a whistleblower show that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber—who is simultaneously serving as CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and president of COP28—used meetings about the upcoming United Nations climate summit to push foreign governments for fossil fuel deals.
The documents, obtained by the Center for Climate Reporting (CCR) and the BBC, include meeting records, briefings, and emails that indicate Al Jaber's role as CEO of the United Arab Emirates' state-owned oil company has bled into his responsibilities as president of the critical U.N. climate talks, validating the fears of climate campaigners who opposed his selection to lead the summit that kicks off Thursday in Dubai.
"Al Jaber, who has continued his role as CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) despite calls for him to step down during his COP presidency, has held scores of meetings with senior government officials, royalty, and business leaders from around the world in recent months," CCR said Monday, citing briefings it obtained. "The COP28 team has quietly planned to use this access as an opportunity to increase exports of ADNOC's oil and gas."
The investigative group found that "on at least one occasion a nation followed up on commercial discussions brought up in a meeting with Al Jaber" and that "ADNOC's business interests were allegedly raised during a meeting with another country."
Kaisa Kosonen, policy coordinator at Greenpeace International, said in a statement that "if the allegations are true, this is totally unacceptable and a real scandal."
"The climate summit leader should be focused on advancing climate solutions impartially, not backroom deals that are fueling the crisis. This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared when the CEO of an oil company was appointed to the role," said Kosonen. "This summit is the world's most powerful forum to avert the biggest threat to the survival of humankind, and we urge the presidency to act accordingly."
"It looks ever more like a fox is guarding the hen house."
Advocacy groups and lawmakers have been urging Al Jaber to resign from the COP28 presidency since his appointment earlier this year, citing his glaring conflicts of interest as top executive of ADNOC—a company that is planning to expand fossil fuel production despite scientists' repeated warnings that no new oil, gas, and coal production is compatible with preventing runaway planetary warming.
Al Jaber, who has the support of the Biden administration and other world powers, has refused to step aside, casting further doubt on the prospects of concrete climate progress at COP28.
"Sultan Al Jaber claims his inside knowledge of the fossil fuel industry qualifies him to lead a crucial climate summit but it looks ever more like a fox is guarding the hen house," Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s climate adviser, said in response to CCR's revelations. "The appointment of the chief executive of one of the world's largest fossil fuel companies to lead COP28 was always a brazen conflict of interests which undermines the meeting's ability to reach the outcome we desperately need."
"Documents suggesting he was briefed to advance business interests in COP meetings only fuel our concerns that COP28 has been comprehensively captured by the fossil fuel lobby to serve its vested interests that put the whole of humanity at risk," Harrison added.
Internal emails obtained by CCR show that COP28 staffers have been instructed to "always" include talking points for ADNOC and Masdar—the UAE's state-owned renewable energy company—in summit meetings.
"In statements to CCR and other media outlets, the team has repeatedly denied allegations of undue influence by the oil company," the group said. "For instance, a summit spokesperson told CCR in September that 'the COP28 staff are separate from any other entity' and that the presidency's 'operations are fully independent and autonomous.'"
"But the leaked briefings, emails, and meeting records paint a different picture," CCR continued. " After questions from CCR, a spokesperson also confirmed that one senior member of the summit team who has been deeply involved in diplomatic efforts, COP28's director of government affairs Mohammed Al Kaabi, works across Al Jaber's 'entire portfolio.'"
CCR previously revealed that Oliver Phillips, an adviser to Al Jaber at ADNOC, played a central role in public relations efforts for COP28, which the head of the U.N. has said must be the catalyst for "dramatic" climate action. In June, The Guardianreported that ADNOC was able to read emails from the COP28 office.
Whistleblowers told CCR that COP28 meetings are still "regularly held" at ADNOC headquarters.
Michael Jacobs, a professor at Sheffield University in the U.K. and an expert on climate politics, told CCR that Al Jaber's actions appear "breathtakingly hypocritical."
"The UAE at the moment is the custodian of a United Nations process aimed at reducing global emissions," said Jacobs. "And yet, in the very same meetings where it's apparently trying to pursue that goal, it's actually trying to do side deals which will increase global emissions.”
Kosonen of Greenpeace argued that "if the presidency wants to claw back credibility, it can only do so through actions."
"That means brokering a global agreement for a just and equitable phaseout of all fossil fuels, in alignment with science, and making polluters pay for the loss and damage they've caused to communities," said Kosonen.
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