One of the protagonists of the first sessions of the climate summit (COP28) which has been held since November 30 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) is undoubtedly Sultan Ahmed al-Jabir, president (position designated by the host country) of the annual meeting of the countries that are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and, in addition - among many other positions - executive chairman and managing director of Adnoc (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company), a state-owned company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), considered the fourth oil company with the highest business volume in the world.
"It's like having the executive director of a tobacco company presiding over a conference on lung cancer and treatments," said Andreas Sieber, associate director of the climate advocacy group 350.org, with acid irony, speaking to NPR . Criticism of the holding of the climate summit in one of the countries with the largest production of hydrocarbons in the world and, in particular, the nomination for the presidency of Sultan al-J abir have been repeated in recent months and have grown just before the start of the meeting, with the publication in the BBC and many other media of some alleged confidential documents (revealed by the investigative journalism organization Center for Climate Reporting) which would indicate that the United Arab Emirates and its company Adnoc plan to take advantage of the visits on the occasion of the COP28 to finalize oil agreements with several countries.
Al-Jabir himself was forced to devote a few minutes to the issue in the first briefing after the inauguration of the summit. In a moderate but visibly upset tone, Al-Jabir, who is also the UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies, stated that the accusations published in these media are "false, incorrect and inaccurate". What need does a country like the UAE have to take advantage of diplomatic visits to do business, if it has the capacity and resources to do business at any other time and place?, Al-Jabir roughly told the hundreds of journalists attending the climate conference.
Fortunately for the accused, news attention was quickly diverted to a more positive issue for the international community, after the creation of the "loss and damage" fund was announced, intended to repair the climatic damage caused to the most vulnerable nations.
Despite the first impact, it is very likely that the president-designate of the COP28 will still be a reason for attention in the coming days, so that his biographical and professional data are the center of attention at the moment.
The first detail to take into account is that Sultan is the first given name of the politician and senior executive of the UAE, that is to say, it should not be confused with the distinction, position or honorary condition that in Catalan is known as sultan (“Sovereign of an Islamic state”, DIEC). The biography published on his website (drsultanaljaber.com) indicates that he was born on August 31, 1973 in the United Arab Emirates. He does not specify that he was specifically born in Umm al-Qaywayn, capital of the small emirate of the same name, integrated into the UAE, that he is married and has four children. He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California in the United States. He also holds a doctorate in Business and Economics from the University of Coventry (United Kingdom), as well as a master's degree in Business Administration from the California State University, Los Angeles (United States).
Al-Jabir's track record is long and jam-packed with aspects that can be criticized from an environmental and climate point of view, such as leading the biggest growth of all time in one of the biggest oil companies and profitable in the world, as - in the opposite sense - of having become a prominent driver of the decarbonization process and support for renewable energies, for example, as chairman of Masdar, also known as Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, the state-owned renewable energy company of the United Arab Emirates.
Sultan al-Jabir's list of positions is as long as that of distinctions, among which is the one awarded in 2012 by the UN to the Champions of the Earth program, an honorary award that also includes individuals and entities from recognized environmental merits such as Ellen MacArthur, David Attenborough or the youth movement created by Greta Thunberg Fridays for Future.
