UAE names Adnoc chief as Cop 28 president

The UAE has named Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber as the president of the UN Cop 28 climate conference, making him the first head of a state oil company to head the global summit.

Al-Jaber is chief executive of state-owned Adnoc and the UAE's special envoy on climate change, and he will be tasked with framing the summit agenda at a time he describes as a "critical year in a critical decade for climate action."

The UAE will host Cop 28 at Expo City in Dubai, from 30 November to 12 December this year. Al-Jaber said the country will adopt an inclusive approach that "engages all stakeholders from public and private sectors".

The Adnoc chief is already overseeing $15bn the UAE has earmarked towards decarbonisation projects, like carbon capture and storage, over the next five years. Like many countries, the UAE has set a target to slash carbon emissions and achieve net zero by 2050. Adnoc expects to expand its carbon capture capacity to 5mn t/yr by 2030.

The Cop summit comes at a time when Russia's invasion of Ukraine has in many regions stymied moves away from fossil fuels and reprioritised energy security. Several Mideast Gulf state producers have lamented a lack of investment in fossil fuels and urged for an energy transition that will meet climate change commitments without deterring energy security. Adnoc advocates maintaining production of hydrocarbons, while remaining less carbon intensive.

"The country would continue to be a responsible producer of oil and gas for as long as the world is in need," UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan said at Cop 27 in 2022. That was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, whose foreign minister Sameh Shoukry is the current Cop president.

By Rithika Krishna