Dubai (AFP) – NGOs may have slammed the record number of fossil fuel lobbyists at UN climate talks in Dubai, but the industry won't be browbeaten, with the OPEC cartel hosting a chat on "climate initiatives" and one of the heads of the "Big Oil" majors sparring with protesters.
Issued on: 05/12/2023 -
Activists were already up in arms over the appointment of Sultan Al Jaber, the head of Emirati national oil company ADNOC, as president of COP28.
The oil-rich hosts made no secret of their desire to give the fossil fuel industry a voice at the talks where the fate of oil, gas and coal is at the heart of deliberations.
On Tuesday, the umbrella group Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) claimed 2,456 people tied to fossil fuel interests have signed up to COP28 -- about four times the number from last year's UN talks in Egypt.
If taken as a group they outnumber "every country delegation" apart from the UAE and Brazil, which will host COP30 in 2025, the coalition said.
But Majid Jafar, CEO of Emirati firm Crescent Petroleum, said the United Arab Emirates was actually trying to be "inclusive", not only to "have all industries present but really having the Global South frame the debate upfront."
The UAE turned the UN talks into the largest COP ever, with more than 80,000 registered participants ranging from government officials to an array of businesses and climate activists.
Under new UN rules, attendees had to provide information about their employer and their relationship -- financial or otherwise -- with the entity applying for accreditation on their behalf.
"Do you really think Shell or Chevron or ExxonMobil are sending lobbyists to passively observe these talks?" said Alexia Leclercq, co-founder of the NGO Start:Empowerment.
"Big Polluters' poisonous presence has bogged us down for years, keeping us from advancing the pathways needed to keep fossil fuels in the ground," Leclercq said.
Oil CEO challenged
According to KBPO, France brought TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne, Italy included a team from Italian energy giant ENI, while the European Union brought employees of oil giants BP and ExxonMobil.
Pouyanne was approached by an activist asking him about reports that TotalEnergies has been "party to the bullying and intimidation" that resulted in communities in Uganda signing over their land.
"You think this is true?" Pouyanne replied, according to video footage posted on X, formerly Twitter. "We act in Uganda according to a code of conduct."
When asked in a separate video released by NGO 350.org his reaction to the detention of seven students opposed to an oil pipeline project in Uganda, Pouyanne said his team in the country was in contact with the authorities to get their release.
Pouyanne had already been ambushed by activists at COP27 in Egypt.
'It will be fine'
Exchanges were much more cordial in other corners of COP28's sprawling Expo City complex.
Groups of people mingled at the pavilion of the Geneva-based International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) -- a non-profit business group whose members include BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil.
IETA brought 116 people including representatives from Shell and Norway's Equinor, according to KBPO.
In a booth inside a large pavilion, Saudi-led OPEC made a presentation on "climate initiatives".
A screen reminded the small audience that the focus must be on an "all-peoples, all fuels and all-technologies approach" and that it backed technology to capture and store emissions.
One of the participants, Satya Widya Yudha, an energy industry representative in the National Energy Council of Indonesia, said that technology remained expensive.
An OPEC representative replied that "more investment is required".
When asked his thoughts on critics who denounce the presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, Yudha told AFP: "As long as they commit to reduce their emissions, it will be fine."
© 2023 AFP
COP28: Arab Coordination Group allocates $10 billion for energy transition
Countries at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai are considering calling for a formal phaseout of fossil fuels as part of the UN summit's final deal to tackle global warming, a draft negotiating text seen on Tuesday shows. The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) said on the sidelines of the summit that it would allocate $10 billion to support energy transition until 2030, UAE state news agency (WAM) said on Tuesday.
Issued on:
Arab Coordination Group allocates $10 billion to support energy transition
The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) said on the sidelines of the UN's COP28 climate summit that it would allocate $10 billion to support energy transition until 2030, UAE state news agency (WAM) said on Tuesday.
The funding by ACG, an alliance comprising regional and international development institutions, was meant "to drive a comprehensive and affordable transition to renewable energy in developing countries", WAM added.
Up to 63 countries back COP28 pledge to curb cooling emissions
The United States, Canada and Kenya were among 63 countries to join a pledge on Tuesday to deeply cut cooling-related emissions at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai.
The Global Cooling Pledge marks the world's first collective focus on climate-warming emissions from cooling, which includes refrigeration for food and medicine and air conditioning. It commits countries to reduce by 2050 their cooling-related emissions by at least 68% compared to 2022 levels, along with a suite of other targets including establishing minimum energy performance standards by 2030.
"We want to lay out a pathway to reduce cooling-related emissions across all sectors but increase access to sustainable cooling," US climate envoy John Kerry told COP28.
UAE's 'repressive environment' complicating COP28 activism, Amnesty International says
Restrictions on speech and protest in the United Arab Emirates are complicating UN approval of an Amnesty event at COP28 demanding the release of Emirati political prisoners, the group's secretary-general said Tuesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations climate talks in Dubai, Agnes Callamard said the obstacles hampering activist actions within an UN-managed Blue Zone at the COP venue are slightly larger than previous years despite no changes to the guidelines. "The UN has been trying to find ways for us to do our actions. It is taking a lot of steps and negotiations... but it is working within an environment that is making them... much more complicated," Callamard told reporters at the COP28 venue.
In previous years, "the obstacles we confronted may have been a bit less", she said, adding that "the number of negotiations and hurdles to me indicate that the interpretation of the (UN) rules are largely driven by the (UAE) environment in which we operate".
Responding to Callamard's comments, the UAE's COP28 team said applications for Blue Zone actions were reviewed "exclusively" by the UN.
Amnesty and Human Rights Watch accuse the UAE of jailing 64 Emirati political prisoners, including rights activists, many of whom authorities accuse of having links to outlawed groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
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