COP28 Host UAE Planned To Use Climate Summit 'To Strike Oil Deals': Reports Cite 'Leaked Notes'

Ahead of the COP28 Summit, reports said that leaked documents of briefings suggest the UAE President for the UN Climate Summit planned to strike oil and gas deals with foreign governments.

The two-week-long COP28 UN Climate Summit finds itself in a row just two days before it is scheduled to start as reports citing 'leaked documents' said host United Arab Emirates (UAE) was planning to strike oil and gas deals with foreign governments using its role in the summit. The documents were published by the UK-registered Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR), working alongside the BBC, and said that UAE's COP28 President, Sultan Al Jaber sought to lobby on oil and gas deals during meetings with at least 27 foreign governments in the run-up to the conference.

The leaked documents contain over 150 pages of briefing prepared by the COP28 team for meetings held by Al Jaber between July and October this year. CCR stated that these briefings give an insight into private discussions between the COP President and prominent government figures attending the UN Summit in Dubai.

"But it is not clear on exactly how many occasions Al Jaber and his colleagues discussed the talking points in COP28 meetings with foreign governments. Briefings prepared ahead of meetings suggest he planned to raise commercial interests with almost 30 countries," the CCR report added.

It further said that several countries denied discussing commercial interests with Al Jaber despite the talking points appearing on briefings, adding that five others said that no meetings took place.

According to a BBC report, the UAE team responded with "private meetings are private" when asked about the development. It refused to comment on what was discussed in the meetings and said its work has been focused on "meaningful climate action".

BBC cited the CCR finding and reported that the briefings included proposed "talking points", like one for China which says Adnoc, the UAE's state oil company, is "willing to jointly evaluate international LNG [liquefied natural gas] opportunities" in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.

The leaked cache of internal documents also shows a Colombian minister being told that Adnoc "stands ready" to support Colombia to develop its fossil fuel resources.

The BBC report said that Germany and Egypt are among the 13 countries, and the talking points suggest ADNOC telling them it wants to work with their governments to develop fossil fuel projects. CNN stated that the documents elaborate on each country’s climate progress in key areas and also contain several suggestions to offer new oil and gas projects with the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which Al Jaber leads.

Meanwhile, a COP28 team spokesperson told CNN in an email: "The documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings. It is extremely disappointing to see the BBC use unverified documents in their reporting."

Al Jaber continues to be the CEO of ADNOC despite calls for him to step down during the COP28 Presidency. Even the UAE has been at the center of widespread criticism for appointing the chief of its top oil and gas to preside over COP28.