{"id":970188,"date":"2023-01-26T12:02:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T12:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/climate-groups-cop28-uae"},"modified":"2023-01-26T12:02:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T12:02:09","slug":"450-climate-groups-to-un-no-cop-overseen-by-a-fossil-fuel-executive-can-be-legitimate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/01\/26\/450-climate-groups-to-un-no-cop-overseen-by-a-fossil-fuel-executive-can-be-legitimate\/","title":{"rendered":"450+ Climate Groups to UN: ‘No COP Overseen by a Fossil Fuel Executive’ Can Be Legitimate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\t A global network of more than 450 climate justice organizations said Thursday that the upcoming COP28 talks in United Arab Emirates will\u2014like the United Nations climate conferences before it<\/a>\u2014end in failure as long as the fossil fuel industry is allowed to influence and dictate the terms of the event.\n<\/p> \n\tThe Kick Big Polluters Out network raised particular concern over the UAE's recent appointment<\/a> of Sultan Al Jaber, head of the country's state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), to preside over the end-of-year talks\u2014a decision that climate campaigners said throws the integrity and seriousness of COP28 into further question.\n\t \n\t\"There is no honor in appointing a fossil fuel executive who profits immensely off of fueling the climate crisis to oversee the global response to climate change,\" the network wrote in a \n\tletter<\/a> to U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Simon Stiell, and all parties to the UNFCCC.\n<\/p> \n\t\"That such a move could ever be seen to be legitimate amidst an intensifying climate crisis where millions of lives and ecosystems are on the line exemplifies just how insidious Big Polluters' stranglehold over climate policy is,\" continued the letter, which was spearheaded by four UNFCCC constituencies representing millions of people. \"No COP overseen by a fossil fuel executive can be seen as legitimate. COP presidencies must be free and independent of fossil fuel influence. It's time for the UNFCCC to deliver the long overdue equitable phaseout of fossil fuels.\"\n<\/p> \n\tThe letter comes days after \n\tPolitico<\/em> reported<\/a> that the U.N. is \"querying the presidency of this year's COP28 climate talks over its ties\" to ADNOC, the 12th-largest oil company in the world by production.\n<\/p> \n\t\"The main COP28 team is using two stories of an 11-floor office building in Abu Dhabi also used by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology located next to ADNOC's headquarters,\" \n\tPolitico<\/em> noted. \"That prompted the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to send a series of questions to the presidency of the climate talks enquiring about whether the presidency will be independent of the oil company.\"\n<\/p> \n\tAccording to the outlet, which cited an unnamed source with knowledge of the matter, the questions raised by the U.N. \"include whether there is a firewall between the two institutions; whether ADNOC has access to COP28 meetings and strategic documents; if the staff working on the climate conference are relying on the oil giant's IT systems; if part of the work will be devoted to protecting ADNOC's interests; and whether the climate team is being paid by the oil company.\"\n<\/p> \n\t\"Polluters have a role to play: Stop polluting. They cannot be placed on a leadership pedestal.\"\n<\/p> Rejecting pressure to rescind his appointment, the UAE has \n\tsaid<\/a> Al Jaber will stay on as head of ADNOC as he presides over COP28, a striking conflict of interest given the oil giant's financial interest in limiting the scope of climate action.\n<\/p> \n\tJohn Kerry, the United States' special presidential envoy for climate, \n\tpraised<\/a> the selection of Al Jaber to oversee COP28, calling the oil company executive a \"terrific environmentalist.\"\n<\/p>
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