United Arab Emirates wants to use climate summit to conclude oil deals: BBC can view leaked documents

The UAE does not deny that claim, but says that private meetings must remain “private” and that the country continues to focus on “meaningful climate action”.

The COP28 climate summit, which starts next Thursday, will be chaired by the UAE and specifically by Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber. He is the boss of the country’s largest oil company ADNOC. The documents obtained by the BBC state that the delegation wants to offer to China, Cambodia, Germany and Egypt, among others, that ADNOC is ready to collaborate on fossil fuel projects. The meetings would be chaired by Al-Jaber.

Greenpeace says it is shocked by the news. “If these allegations are true, this is absolutely unacceptable and a real scandal. The leader of the climate summit should be focused on promoting solutions, not backroom deals that fuel the crisis. This is exactly the conflict of interest we feared when the CEO of an oil company was appointed chairman.”