Pressure builds to eliminate fossil fuel use as oil executive takes over climate talks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pressure to phase out fossil fuels mounted Thursday on the oil company chief who took over fragile international climate negotiations that opened in Dubai amid concerns about what some say is contradictory dual roles.

The climate talks newly installed boss began on the hot seat and not just because the planet keeps smashing heat records this year. Days before the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP28) began, reports published meeting preparation notes that linked efforts by the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC to push fossil fuel sales at the same time its CEO and new COP president, Sultan al-Jaber, was meeting to curb climate change. Burning coal, oil and gas is a chief cause of global warming.

Even though al-Jaber vehemently denied the revelations from the BBC and others, several climate negotiations experts say it will likely change the tenor and maybe even the outcome of the two weeks of intense negotiations, taking place about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from where five offshore oil fields flow.

“I think the pressure on the COP president to deliver is pretty clear and has been clear for months,” German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan told The Associated Press. “That’s the focus here to deliver on really a course correction.”