“I hope that the new generations can forgive us,” declared a diplomat who participated in the negotiations.
The state oil company of the United Arab Emirates used the UN climate summit from last year to try quintupling its businesses with fossil fuelsaccording to a new investigation.
The Dubai COP28 was marred by controversy from the beginning, when it was announced that the president of the summit would be Sultan Al JaberCEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
In November, on the eve of the conference, documents were leaked which revealed plans by the country’s COP28 team to discuss oil and gas deals with more than a dozen countries, apparently leveraging its prestige as COP host to the benefit of ADNOC.
Now, an investigation by the NGO Global Witness shows that ADNOC pursued oil, gas and petrochemical deals worth nearly $100 billion (92,000 million euros) in 2023, five times more than the previous year.
“The United Arab Emirates knew exactly what they were doing and did not disappoint: the COP28 seems to have been molded for the benefit of its state oil company“, says Patrick Galey, principal investigator at Global Witness.
The publication of the report occurs during the Climate Change Conference being held this week in Bonn (Germany), Halfway between COP28 and Azerbaijan COP29. It warns that the new host oil state cannot be allowed to copy the UAE’s approach.
What deals did ADNOC close during the UAE COP year?
The leaked documents, prepared by the UAE team at COP28 and obtained by journalists from the ‘Centre for Climate Reporting‘, they identified 16 countries as the main objectives to close agreements. ADNOC sought agreements with 12 of these countriesAccording to researchers from Global Witness.
For example, ADNOC y BP announced plans to create a joint venture to buy the 50% de NewMed Energy, of Israel, in order to expand gas exploitation. Two offers were also submitted to acquire a stake in Braskemthe largest petrochemical producer in Latin America, which is partly owned by Petrobras, the Brazilian state oil and gas company.
It also closed contracts for an estimated value of 17,000 million dollars (15,600 million euros) to exploit the gas fields of Hail and Grassin the UAE, in association with the Russian Lukoil and the German Wintershall Dea.
In total, according to Global Witness analysis, ADNOC was pursuing 20 major international fossil fuel deals in 2023, for a potential value of 92,000 million euros. This figure is five times greater than the value of the deals it pursued in 2022, and 40% higher than the previous four years combined.
Although the NGO acknowledges that it may have missed some agreements since 2019, the figures (compiled from various data sets) show a huge increase in business activity in the year the UAE hosted the COP.
According to an anonymous source, a diplomat involved in the negotiations was heard exclaiming: “I hope the younger generations can forgive us for what we have done.”
ADNOChowever, denies to use COP28 to do business. “This latest report from Global Witness attempts to recycle old allegations and make negative, misleading and inaccurate claims,” a company spokesperson responded. A COP28 spokesperson told the NGO that “the fabricated allegations about conversations that never took place and the attempt to discredit the hard work and tremendous achievements of the Presidency do not deserve consideration.”
From one petrostate to another: Will Azerbaijan follow the UAE’s example?
“Let us not be mistaken, COP28 was hijacked by fossil fuel industry interestswho were not content with blocking or paralyzing a genuine climate policy, but rather took the opportunity to pursue more climate-destroying oil and gas deals,” adds Galey.
“As depressing as it is dystopian“Climate talks must never be allowed to generate more climate chaos.”
Azerbaijan was one of the countries with which ADNOC closed agreements last year. In August 2023, it acquired a 30% stake in the Azerbaijani Absheron gas field, in partnership with the French oil giant TotalEnergies.
As COP28 entered its final week, the Emirati company also announced a agreement with Azerbaijan to explore the production of fossil hydrogen.
Activists fear that this handshake could lead to a more insidious rapprochement between COP hosts and other oil countries. Global Witness says Azerbaijan appears to be trying to emulate ADNOC’s approach to climate negotiations, having announced plans to privatize parts of state oil and gas company SOCAR in the weeks leading up to November’s Baku summit.
ADVERTISING“COP28 appears to have provided other petrostates with a sinister manual from which to copy and paste” says Galey. “As the UAE passes the baton to Azerbaijan, we face the prospect of back-to-back COPs being hijacked in favor of the interests of big polluters and their profits.”
The president of COP29 is another controversial choice: Mukhtar BabayevMinister of Ecology of Azerbaijan, who previously held senior positions at SOCAR for almost two decades.
In response to the Global Witness investigation, a COP29 spokesperson I affirm that “they reject strongly the suggestion that Azerbaijan have a hidden agenda by hosting COP29.” Azerbaijan is “100% committed to bringing countries together with the ambition of maintaining the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach,” they added.
