History was made in Glasgow in 2021 when “fossil fuels” appeared in the Cop26 declaration. It was the first time they had ever been mentioned in the text of a Cop agreement – officially recognising the taproot of a human-led climate emergency. Two years is a long time in geopolitics. This year’s Cop28, which begins on Thursday in Dubai, will be presided over by Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, which has the largest net-zero-busting expansion plans of any fossil fuel business in the world.
It was already doubtful that Mr Al Jaber was fit to lead global climate negotiations while responsible for planet-wrecking activities. This week’s revelations that he planned to lobby on oil and gas deals during meetings with foreign governments ahead of Cop28 further damage his credibility as an honest broker in climate negotiations. Mr Al Jaber had a hard enough job without hustles making a mockery of his independence.
