Full of oilmen, snubbed by the USA and China:COP28 is already a farce

It had been clear for some time that the United Nations climate summit was a farce, but nevertheless it was difficult to believe that it could have been done even worse.This year, however, the contradictions and potential conflicts of interest have even been put out in the open, in plain sight, before everyone's eyes.The result is, to put it simply, decisions that are supposed to solve the climate crisis they were placed in the hands of those who caused it.The 28th Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28) will take place in the United Arab Emirates and will be chaired by the head of the nation's oil giant.Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), will have the task of defining the agenda of the main international conference on climate issues, playing a central role in the negotiations aimed at reaching, in theory, a consensus on points such as the reduction of CO2 emissions and the progressive abandonment of fossil fuels.An absurdity signed by the United Nations which undermines what little credibility remained in these negotiations.Of course, one could argue by stating that those who had the main climate responsibilities should be responsible for energy conversion, but it's a shame that the intentions seem to be anything but in this direction.

Let's start by saying that the United Arab Emirates is the country with the largest plans of fossil expansion in the world.A centuries-old bond, the one between the Emirates and oil, which is unlikely to be dissolved in the space of a few weeks.How can a nation with such interests push for the energy sources that support it to be abandoned in less than 10 years?Simple:he can't.We then look at the Emirati state oil company, ADNOC, which, although it has the largest zero-emissions projects of any company in the world, would take Anyway over 300 years to capture all that it will produce between now and 2030. Nonetheless, its CEO, as well as president of the Summit, has repeatedly supported carbon capture as one of the solutions to the climate crisis.A first fear is therefore that Al Jaber wants to use COP28 to promote useless and risky technical solutions, rather than pushing for a rapid and necessary reduction in the production of fossil fuels and the resulting climate-changing emissions.

But it doesn't end here.Apparently, the Emirati fossil giant directly intends to exploit the summit to conclude nothing less than new oil agreements.This was revealed by a recent leak of documents analyzed from some British newspapers.The documents, obtained from the Center for Climate Reporting, consist of reports prepared by the COP28 team before the talks began.In particular, there would be "discussing points" for 15 countries with which, in practice, the fossil fuel company ADNOC would like to collaborate to extract new hydrocarbons.With China, for example, the company said it was "willing to jointly evaluate international LNG (liquefied natural gas) opportunities" in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.In the documents, ADNOC then invites a Colombian minister to communicate that it "is ready" to support Colombia in the development of its fossil fuel resources.Brazil's environment minister was instead asked to help "ensure the alignment and approval" of ADNOC's bid for Latin America's largest oil and gas processing company, Braskem.In this regard, a spokesperson for the United Arab Emirates did not deny that it had also used the COP28 meetings for business matters, while he was keen to point out that "the meetings are private".In short, the summit which should lead to a definitive stop to the exploitation of fossil fuels becomes an opportunity to promote its expansion.

At the same time, will at least something truly useful in combating climate change be put on the table?In words, certainly.The UN itself – in document which lays the foundation for discussions – he stated for example that the exploration of fossil fuels is expected to cease globally by 2030 and that, by the same date, funding to save poor countries from the impacts of the climate crisis should reach 400 billion dollars a year.The European Union is of the same opinion and has chosen to defend the most ambitious objective, namely that of obtaining a global commitment on the gradual exit from fossil energy sources.The good news is that, until now, saying goodbye to fossil fuels had never been included in an EU text intended for climate negotiations.The bad news is that, as usual, a loophole has been included.“The EU – we read in the text – will systematically promote and call for a global shift towards energy systems free of fossil fuels well before 2050”.In practice, the Union asks that only fossil fuels produced without reducing emissions are abandoned, that is, all those not associated with the widely criticized carbon capture and storage systems.Overall, however, it is far from a given that words will turn into deeds.Suffice it to say that neither US President Joe Biden nor Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to participate in the international climate event.Yes, they will send their delegates, but what is certain is that their decision says a lot about what the priorities of the most emitting nations on a global level are.

[by Simone Valeri]