By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

Civil Society Organisations involved in environment and climate change have expressed concerns over the choice of COP28 president, saying that it was wrong for the United Arab Emirates to appoint an oil chief to lead climate negotiation at a time when countries are being asked to scale back on fossil fuel.

The civil society organisations under the umbrella of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance say it was ‘outrageous’ to  appoint Sultan al-Jaber, head of oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), when parties are discussing climate change to which oil companies are the major contributors of the worrying climate change trends. They also said the appointment of Sultan al-Jaber was to undermine and weaken international climate action.

“We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are shocked by the appointment of an oil CEO as COP28 President, and the responsibility he will have at negotiations in December 2023. The purpose of COP is to reduce and moderate the effects of climate change. There are many other stakeholders that should be allowed to participate in this critical negotiation, and their voices should be heard. We call on all climate negotiators to protest this appointment,” a statement issued by the CSOs, reads in part.

Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Direct of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), said  this decision will set a dangerous precedent that protects oil companies’ bottom-lines as a priority and puts business interests over climate science, human rights, democracy, and justice.

“This pick represents an assault on collective actions and trust in international multilateral processes at a moment when we must all work harder than ever as it challenges our ability to hold together global tempestuous (sic) efforts; an assault on the community of owners (in the public good sense) who invest their money into a sustainable future; placing profit at the heart of justice; undermining democratic control; taking away from others the power to speak through lobbying; compromising basic principles including equal rights for men and women, indigenous peoples,” he said.

On Tuesday, 10 Jan 2023, the United Arab Emirates (UEA) appointed Sultan Al-Jaber, Head of Oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the President-designate of the 28th Edition of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP28), scheduled to take place in December 2023 in Dubai. As COP28 President, al-Jaber will be at the centre of crucial deal making and exert enormous influence on the COP outcome.

Mwenda said “ominously, never again have we ever witnessed a quasi-government Executive being appointed to lead such a crucial multilateral process, and this, infamous as it may sound, marks the lowest moment for the UNFCCC, which is exceedingly veering off from its mandate to an international Expo where Corporates with dubious environmental-climate integrity greenwash their fossil-fuel credentials.”

He said though in past the civil society have expressed deep worries about the capture of the international dialogue on climate change by vicious fossil companies whose ill-intentions are to derail the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathways, it has never been so blatantly open that they would one day occupy the steering wheel.

Mwenda said Al-Jabar’s appointment comes at a time the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for which he is a CEO, seeks to develop oil resources by increasing the upstream crude production through the concession Agreements for new exploration and production.

“Curiously in 2020, the country has discovered over 80 trillion cubic feet of gas resources at Jebel Ali. Without understating the fact that a 5-year business plan and capital expenditure of 550 billion dirhams ($150 billion) for the period 2023-2027 was also approved last year by the board to enable his company’s growth strategy in order to bring forward oil production capacity expansion to 2027. We see this as a threat to the global commitment of divesting dirty energy for the sake of limitation of global temperature to 1.5 degrees of global warming,” he said.