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CALLS are growing for the oil chief leading the next United Nations climate talks to be removed.
Sultan al-Jaber heads the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and serves as the United Arab Emirates minister of industry and technology and climate envoy.
More than 100 lawmakers from the United States and the European Parliament have followed demands earlier in the year by climate activists in calling for the removal of Mr Jabar, who was chosen in January to lead the Cop28 talks in Dubai in December.
Critics say that the appointment of the oil executive threatens the integrity of the crucial negotiations.
In a letter sent to the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the lawmakers voiced “profound concern” that private-sector polluters would be able to “exert undue influence” on the climate negotiations, to be held in Dubai later this year.
The signatories wrote: “We urge you to engage in diplomatic efforts to secure the withdrawal of the president-designate of Cop28.”
Signatories included US Democratic senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Scientists and climate activists have expressed dismay at Mr Jaber’s appointment, taking it as a sign that big business has managed to undermine the global response to the climate crisis.
More than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists were present at the Cop27 climate talks held in Egypt last year.
Responding to criticism, Mr Jaber has previously insisted that he had “no intention” of deviating from the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels.
He said: “Keeping 1.5°C alive is a top priority and it will cut across everything I do.”
US Democratic Progressive Caucus member Representative Ro Khanna said: “It’s pretty straightforward. The head of a national oil company should not be president-designate of a climate conference.”
Emirati leaders also extended an invitation yesterday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syrian President Bashar Assad to attend the Cop28 talks, prompting criticism from human rights campaigns, including Human Rights Watch, which said Mr Assad’s inclusion would help “whitewash atrocities.”
