The team from the United Arab Emirates responsible for organizing the COP28 climate talks, set to commence this week, had initially intended to leverage its hosting role to initiate fresh oil and gas agreements with foreign governments. This revelation comes from a collection of leaked documents disclosed by the UK-registered Centre for Climate Reporting. The documents seem to be briefing notes for Sultan Al Jaber, who will preside over the UN climate negotiations, outlining talking points for his meetings with foreign officials leading up to the summit. Each document serves as a country profile, addressing climate progress in various sectors such as finance, decarbonizing food systems, and renewable energy adoption, while also proposing avenues to elevate each country’s ambitions.
Notably, interspersed within these talking points are suggestions to propose new oil and gas projects involving the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), of which Al Jaber is the head. ADNOC has not responded to CNN’s request for comment, although the company previously refuted any claims that it aimed to use the climate talks to self-promote, deeming such suggestions as “incorrect and baseless.” the United Arab Emirates
In an email response to CNN, a spokesperson for the COP28 team expressed disappointment with the accuracy of the documents mentioned in the BBC article, asserting that they were not utilized in meetings by COP28. The spokesperson criticized the use of unverified documents in the BBC’s reporting.
However, the spokesperson did not directly answer CNN’s inquiry regarding the independence of the COP28 team from ADNOC, nor did they explicitly deny the discussion of business interests.