Dubai hosting Cop28 summit ‘is cartoon-level absurd’

The Emirati Minister of State and CEO of Abu Dhabi's state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber.  Picture: AP

Dubai hosting the UN's Cop28 climate change summit this year is akin to "putting the Marlboro Man in charge of the smoking ban" and a "fossil fuel sham", leading Irish environmental campaigners have said.

Reports emanating from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week, verified by the Financial Times, say that UAE authorities have warned they will not tolerate dissent and protest at the annual global climate summit.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was among those to protest the Cop26 event in Glasgow in 2021, while protests broke through the Cop27 event in the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh last November, despite a clampdown on dissidents from Egyptian authorities.

Cop28 in Dubai will be headed up by Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber as its president, who also serves as the UAE's climate envoy. He is also head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the 12th largest oil-producing firm in the world.

Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth, Oisín Coghlan said reports of clamping down on protests is "the behaviour of an authoritarian bully and a corporate shill" and criticised the choice of Cop28 president.

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"The man is literally the ceo of an oil company in an undemocratic petrostate. Putting him in charge of the UN climate talks is like putting the Marlboro man in charge of the smoking ban, it is cartoon-level absurd. And existentially dangerous given how quickly we need to act to contain climate breakdown.

"I don't think climate campaigners should boycott Cop28, however. That is just giving the fossil fuel industry what they want. We should be there, calling out the BS and pushing our governments harder than ever to demand that we get off fossil fuels as fast as possible. That is the way out of the energy crisis and towards a world with clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy for all," he said.

Irish stance

The question for the Irish government is whether they will play along with this charade or whether they and other EU members will play hardball on ending fossil fuels, he added.

"And more to the point, will they get on with phasing out fossil fuels here in Ireland, announcing measures such as a permanent ban on liquid natural gas (LNG) and an end date for new gas boilers in homes and businesses? Ultimately that's how we break the power of the fossil fuel industry that is presiding over Cop28 this year."

Veteran environmental campaigner and journalist John Gibbons called for a boycott from Irish attendees.

"This petrostate is using its position as host of the upcoming Cop28 to greenwash fossil fuels while banning delegates from criticising corporations and crushing the right to peaceful protest. The fact that all forms of protest are illegal in the UAE is reason enough for it to have been ruled out as a host for Cop. 

"By announcing a boycott of this event, and encouraging others to do the same, the Irish delegation to Cop28 could send out a powerful message that we will not be complicit in this fossil fuel sham," he said.

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