The delicious irony of a fossil-fuel honcho heading COP28
Sultan al-Jaber, president of COP28, is an interesting personality. The PhD in economics was chosen by the country hosting COP28, the United Arab Emirates, to head the conference. He happens to be the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world's largest fossil-fuel companies.
Many have seen in these dual assignments an irreconcilable conflict of interest. He has also been accused of using the climate summit to strike oil deals on the side, a charge he has denied. But is there any merit in seeing in this a betrayal of the fight against climate change? Only a theological objection to fossil fuels would justify such a stance.
The climate summit is about the transition away from fossil fuels, indeed, about accelerating it, while continuing to use these essential fuels. We may recall that vocal green champion Germany did not hesitate to burn lignite, the dirtiest form of coal, to compensate for missing out on Russian gas in the wake of the Ukraine war. Human-induced climate change is real, and has been wreaking havoc across the world.
Developing countries are its worst victims, since they have the fewest resources to combat it. They are also the countries least responsible for the historical accumulation of 2,400 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere since the mid-nineteenth century. It is this accumulation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that traps heat on Earth, disrupting historical patterns of ocean currents and winds, and polar-ice formation.
The developing countries’ current contribution to ongoing global emissions remains small as well. In aggregate terms, India is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. But on a per capita basis, South Asians emit just over 1.5
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