At least a dozen employees from the United Arab Emirate’s state-owned oil company have apparently taken up roles with the office of the UAE’s climate change special envoy, who will host this year’s Cop28 UN climate summit.
The revelation adds to growing concerns over the potential for blurred lines between the team hosting this year’s crucial summit and the oil-rich country’s influential fossil fuel industry.
The officials were apparently working in the UAE’s oil and gas industry immediately before taking up roles in the Cop28 team, according to an analysis of LinkedIn accounts by the independent investigative group Centre.
Among the officials are two former Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) engineers who will act as negotiators on behalf of the UAE at the conference, despite their LinkedIn profiles suggesting they may not have a background in international climate diplomacy.
Two of the employees have been seconded from their roles at Adnoc, according to LinkedIn accounts reviewed by CCR. Meanwhile, senior executives at the oil company have been “tasked with supporting” the UAE’s role as hosts of this year’s conference.
The findings follow the recent announcement that Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the chief executive of Adnoc, will preside over the conference in November while retaining his role at the oil company. Climate campaigners and some politicians have called for Jaber to give up his oil role while hosting the summit, to avoid any conflict of interest.
If we don’t make some dramatic changes, Cop28 is going to be the lost climate summit,” said the US congressman Jared Huffman, who in a letter last week called on the special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, to push the UAE to remove Jaber from his post as Cop28 president. “To somehow pretend that all of these fossil fuel personnel and all of these connections are not a massive threat to the entire conference goes beyond naive.”
Sami Joost, a spokesperson for the UAE climate change special envoy, said: “The individuals who are being hired have come from a variety of backgrounds and sectors … Once in post, these individuals are entirely focused on the job of delivering Cop28 and have no obligations to their former employers.”
Adnoc did not respond to questions about its ties to the envoy.
Records also suggest at least some members of the Cop28 team may be working in the same building as the oil company. Filings with the US justice department last year listed Adnoc’s headquarters as the address for the UAE climate change special envoy.
The United Nations, which organises the annual conferences, has questioned the UAE delegation about its independence from Adnoc, according to a recent Politico report.