The head of one of the world's biggest oil companies has been named to lead the COP28 global climate talks in Dubai later this year. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is currently the chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. He is also the minister for industry and advanced technology for the COP28 hosts, the United Arab Emirates. Running the global climate talks process is not an easy job — for months before, and especially during the conference, every word and action of the president is heavily scrutinized. Al Jaber is the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, said to be the world's 12th biggest oil company. Over the past decade he has become the face of the UAE's energy industry but he will be the first serving oil executive to assume the role of COP president. As well as being a minister and his country's climate envoy, he is also chairman of Masdar, the government-owned renewable energy company that he helped set up. "The UAE is approaching COP28 with a strong sense of responsibility and the highest possible level of ambition. In cooperation with the UNFCCC and the COP27 Presidency, we will champion an inclusive agenda that ramps up action on mitigation, encourages a just energy transition that leaves no one behind, ensures substantial, affordable climate finance is directed to the most vulnerable, accelerates funding for adaptation and builds out a robust funding facility to address loss and damage," Al-Jaber was quoted as saying by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on Thursday. "In doing so, we will bring a pragmatic, realistic and solutions-oriented approach that delivers transformative progress for climate and for low carbon economic growth. "...we are committed to supporting and facilitating the ongoing review of international financial institutions to scale up public financing, leverage private finance and improve access. "Pragmatism and constructive dialogue must be at the forefront of our progress. As a nation at the crossroads of the globe, the UAE is well-positioned to build bridges, foster consensus and bring the world together in one shared mission to keep 1.5C alive and protect the planet for the generations who will follow us." At COP27, there was a strong push from more than 80 countries for the conference to declare support for a phase-down of oil and gas as well as coal. "The UAE has adopted a sound green growth strategy and is a major investor in renewable energy both at home and abroad," said Yvo de Boer, who was UN climate chief between 2006 and 2010. "The COP president-designate has been instrumental on many of these issues. This equips him with the understanding, experience and responsibility to make COP28 ambitious, innovative and future focussed." Certainly those skills will be tested at the gathering in Dubai in early December this year. COP28 will hold the first formal assessment of progress on cutting carbon since the Paris agreement was signed. The "global stocktake" as it is called will be a key moment in clarifying just how much further countries will need to go in restricting their emissions. Al-Jaber has reportedly played an "proactive participatory role" in ten similar climate change conferences. The latest appointment makes him the first CEO to serve as COP President. Other appointments included Shamma Al Mazrui, the UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs, and Razan Al Mubarak, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The duo will join al-Jaber's COP28 UAE team as the Youth Climate Champion and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, respectively. The WAM report added that Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE's Minister of Climate Change and Environment, will "continue to lead the UAE's domestic efforts in addressing climate change, preserving the environment, food systems transformation, coordinating the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and setting the pathway for the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative." — Agencies
