The planet is burning up, humanity's addiction to fossil fuels is to blame and the host of a crucial UN climate summit is the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf petromonarchy whose stated aim is a 25 percent ramping up of activity at its state oil company ADNOC.
In fact, it's ADNOC's boss, Prince Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, who's official chair of the COP28 summit. In fairness to the UAE, these annual gatherings rotate between regions and it just happened to be the Middle East's turn.
One year after Qatar's hosting of the World Cup sparked accusations of sportswashing, we ask how green Dubai will seem when the gavel comes down on a crucial gathering for carbon-cutting pledges and climate finance for developing nations.
More broadly, what to make of a tiny federation of emirates positioned as a supersized oil giant and trade hub, which hosts US military bases and sanctioned Russian oligarchs and which ploughs money into Premier League champions Manchester City and the brutal RSF militias in Sudan's civil war?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.
