The nation set to host the UN’s next climate summit later this year, the United Arab Emirates, has appointed the chief executive of the state-owned oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, as COP28 president-designate.

Al-Jaber says in a statement that the Emirati summit facilitation will provide a ”a pragmatic, realistic and solutions-oriented approach that delivers transformative progress for climate and for low-carbon economic growth.” 

Addressing conflict of interest, climate activists call for the president-designate to, at the very least, step down as ADNOC’s CEO, report both AFP and BBC. 

Al-Jaber is the first commercial company boss named to lead a UN climate summit, writes Emerati news agency WAM.

Climate activists have previously voiced criticism about a fossil energy supplier such as the UAE presiding over a meeting tasked with coordinating decarbonization, which needless to say demands reducing consumption of oil and natural gas.

Climate Action Network International Executive Director Tasneem Essop demands that al-Jaber step down as CEO due to the ”conflict of interest”, adding that the appointment is “tantamount to a full-scale capture of the UN climate talks by a petrostate national oil company and its associated fossil fuel lobbyists”. 

Middle Eastern oil countries have consistently been among the world’s most reluctant nations to support action against climate change.

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