Documents leaked to the Centre for Climate Reporting suggest UAE officials have sought to leverage their COP28 host country status to push for oil and gas deals, just as the UAE kicks off the COP28 climate talks in Dubai this Thursday.
Intriguingly, the leaked internal briefings (covering various preparatory meetings the UAE has held since July) say the country’s COP team should:
- 🇨🇳 Tell China the UAE is “willing to jointly evaluate international LNG opportunities (Mozambique, Canada, and Australia)”
- 🇸🇦 Tell the Saudis there’s “no conflict between sustainable development of any country’s natural resources and its commitment to climate change”, and
- 🇩🇪 Tell the Germans the UAE “stand[s] ready to expand LNG supplies“.
In response, the UAE initially told the BBC (which co-produced the report) that “private meetings are private”, before describing the leaks as “inaccurate” and “unverified”.
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INTRIGUE’S TAKE
Deal-making is typical of any big summit. That’s partly why so many people show up (~70,000 will be at COP28 this year).
But if these allegations are true, then we’re talking about a real aberration from the norm here. As COP host, the UAE is entrusted with stewarding global negotiations to reduce emissions, rather than milking the process for lucrative deals that would increase emissions.
The UAE has asked the world to judge it on its results this year. And that’s fair enough. But our experience suggests trust is key to getting results. And heading into COP28, trust now looks to be in short supply (unlike local oil and gas).
