United Arab Emirates I planned to take advantage of the meetings with foreign governments organized based on their role as host COP28 to close agreements on fossil fuels, the BBC said this Monday.
According to the network, these reports, obtained by journalists from the ‘”Centre for Climate Reporting’ (CCR) who work with the BBC, were prepared by the Emirati COP28 team for the president of the summit, Sultan al Jaber (who also directs the oil company Adnoc) before meetings with foreign governments between July and October of this year.
Documents, whose authenticity the CCR claims to have verifiedwere obtained through a “complainant” who remains anonymous for fear of reprisals, the center said.
The choice of the head of the Emirati oil company Adnoc to chair this year’s UN climate conference was heavily criticized by environmental campaigners.
The UN reaction
“I can’t believe this is true,” the UN Secretary General reacted, Antonio Guterresresponding to the press.
According to the BBC, it is a 150-page compilation of reports prepared by the COP28 team for Sultan al Jaber’s meetings with at least 27 foreign governments.
The documents include “talking points”, such as one with China, according to which Adnoc wants to “jointly evaluate international opportunities” for liquefied natural gas in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.
A spokesperson for COP28, which will take place from this Thursday until December 12 in Dubai, responded that “the documents mentioned in the BBC article they are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 during the meetings.”
“Is extremely disappointing that the BBC is using unverified documents,” the spokesperson added.
Impartiality
For Kaisa Kosonen, policy coordinator at Greenpeace International, the summit “should focus on advancing climate solutions in an impartial way, not on secret agreements that fuel the crisis.”
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“This is exactly the kind of conflict of interest we feared when the CEO of an oil company was appointed to this position,” he added.
“If these accusations are true, “They are totally unacceptable and a real scandal.”Greenpeace denounced in a statement.