By Valerie Volcovici
DUBAI (Reuters) – Climate lawyer and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore criticized the United Arab Emirates – host of the COP28 climate summit – on Sunday, saying its position as overseer of international negotiations on global warming years of abuse of public trust.
The comments to Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Dubai conference reflected skepticism among some delegates that COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, head of the UAE’s national oil company ADNOC, can be an honest broker in striking a deal. climate agreement.
“They are abusing the public trust by appointing the CEO of one of the largest and least responsible oil companies in the world to head the COP,” Gore said.
During a presentation in the COP’s main plenary hall ahead of the interview, Gore revealed data showing that the UAE’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 7.5% in 2022 from the previous year, compared with an increase of 1 .5% worldwide. That data came from a coalition he co-founded called Climate TRACE, which uses artificial intelligence and satellite data to track carbon emissions from specific companies, Gore said.
The UAE did not immediately comment on Gore’s comments or the TRACE data.
Gore, who ran unsuccessfully for the US presidency in 2000 as a Democratic Party candidate, also denounced the presence of oil and gas companies at the annual climate summit and their promotion of technologies such as carbon capture as a way to cut fossil fuel emissions to clean up. .
When asked about the very first appearance of ExxonMobil (NYSE:) CEO Darren Woods said at a COP conference that the oil giant’s involvement does not erase its history of resistance to climate policies.
“He should not be taken seriously. He is protecting his profits and making them a higher priority than the survival of human civilization,” Gore said.
Exxon Mobil declined to comment.
Gore urged delegates to agree to wording in the final text issued at the summit to phase out fossil fuels, without caveats or mentions of carbon capture technology.
“The current state of carbon capture and direct air capture technology is a research project,” Gore said. “There has been no cost savings for 50 years and there is a claim on the part of the fossil fuel companies that it is an easily available, economically viable technology.”
