COP28 boss sees himself as a victim of "misrepresentation"

COP28 President al-Jaber is leading the climate conference more efficiently than some of his predecessors. Nevertheless, criticism of him continues. The reason for this is a report according to which he doubts the benefits of phasing out fossil fuels for the climate targets. Al-Jaber now rejects this.

The President of the COP28 World Climate Conference, Sultan al-Jaber, has countered the impression that he does not take scientific findings on climate change seriously. "I am somewhat surprised by the persistent and repeated attempts to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency," al-Jaber told journalists in Dubai. Referring to a report in the British newspaper "Guardian", al-Jaber said it was "a statement taken out of context with misrepresentation" that had triggered "maximum coverage".

The Guardian had reported on Sunday about misleading statements made by al-Jaber on combating global warming. According to the report, the COP28 president said in an online event on November 21: "There is no science, no scenario that says that phasing out fossil fuels will lead to reaching 1.5 degrees." At the press conference, al-Jaber presented the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jim Skea, as a key witness. Skea emphasized that al-Jaber follows the science very closely and fully understands its findings.

According to the IPCC, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 can only be achieved if the use of fossil fuels is significantly reduced and the burning of coal is stopped completely. The German government is calling for a resolution to phase out fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas at the current World Climate Conference in Dubai. COP28, chaired by al-Jaber, will continue until December 12. Al-Jaber is controversial among climate activists because he is also the head of the United Arab Emirates' state oil company ADNOC. These doubts have not diminished since the start of COP28.

However, al-Jaber managed to get off to a flying start. On the first day of the conference, the COP not only ensured that the fund for climate-related damage, which had been longed for by developing countries, was operational - the host, the United Arab Emirates, also contributed 100 million dollars, which was seen as an important signal for contributions from economically strong emerging countries.

However, all those who, like the German Greenpeace boss Martin Kaiser, had warned beforehand that al-Jaber would be "passing the buck" at the COP now see themselves vindicated by the statements quoted by the Guardian. British climate expert Natalie Jones recommended that the conference president should take a look at the reports of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - which clearly see a move away from fossil fuels as a prerequisite for achieving the climate targets.

His appearance at the press conference showed that the tall 50-year-old was not unmoved by the accusations: Al-Jaber emphatically acknowledged the scientific basis of the climate protection process. "I have always made it clear that everything we do is focused on science," he said. Even before that, al-Jaber had always rejected claims that he was a Trojan horse for the oil industry.

For critics, CCS technologies are "red herrings"

"I am someone who has spent most of my career working on sustainability," he liked to emphasize instead. In fact, al-Jaber founded Masdar, the state-owned renewable energy company in the Emirates, in 2006. As head of Adnoc, he took on the task of making the oil and gas giant future-proof and climate-neutral by 2045. However, former US Vice President Al Gore accused the company in Dubai that allegedly non-existent methane emissions could even be "seen from space" on satellite images.

At the COP, which he considered a success so far, al-Jaber advocated, among other things, an initiative of several countries together with large oil and gas companies, the "Global Decarbonization Alliance". The participants want to commit to reducing emissions in the extraction and processing of fuels, including through so-called CCS technologies. CCS stands for Carbon Capture and Storage, i.e. the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Critics of the new initiative speak of a "diversionary maneuver" from the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels and an attempt at "greenwashing". Others at least hope for progress in avoiding methane emissions. What has become apparent so far is that al-Jaber is leading the climate conference in a more structured and efficient manner than many COP presidents before him. It must be possible to "keep the 1.5-degree target within reach", he said. To this end, the COP President is also backing the targets for tripling the expansion of renewable energies and doubling progress in energy efficiency by 2030. However, he once again remained silent on phasing out fossil fuels.