The world’s biggest climate conference – the COP summit seen as a way to hold the big powers to their climate commitments is becoming more controversial as we see more participation from oil and gas lobbyists then as environmentalists increasingly fear another case of greenwashing. With plans to hold the 2023 COP28 summit in the oil-rich UAE next year, many environmentalists are questioning the event’s effectiveness in tackling climate change. Moreover, the significant presence of representatives of fossil fuel companies this year has called into question its legitimacy. This year at the UN’s COP27 summit, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, media coverage throughout the event included the more than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the summit. This marked an increase of around 25% in fossil fuel representatives, compared to 503 lobbyists at COP26. Climate group Kick Big Polluters out Noted“the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists is greater than that of frontline countries and communities. Delegations from African countries and indigenous communities are dwarfed by representatives of corporate interests.
While oil and gas groups are expected to play a major role in shifting from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives as they broaden their portfolios to invest in renewables, too many lobbyists can hurt the efforts of environmentalists to promote the climate. change of action during the conference. The greater the number of representatives present, the more successful their efforts can be to stall progress and encourage action that furthers their own interests.
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The goal of the summit is to encourage countries around the world to meet their climate commitments and policy actions to keep global temperature rise within the 1.5 range.ohC warming, to prevent catastrophic climate change. However, the body that oversees COP summits, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), declared “Climate action will continue to fail to meaningfully address the climate crisis as long as polluting interests are granted unrestricted access to policy-making processes and allowed to unduly influence and undermine critical work. of the UNFCCC”.
And now there are new concerns about the effectiveness of future COP summits, with next year’s event set to take place in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE had 1,070 registered delegates for COP27, many of whom have special interests in the oil and gas industry. As the UAE continues its efforts to develop its renewable energy industry and support the United States in global green energy projects, its economy continues to be largely driven by oil and gas revenues.
The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil exporters, producing an average of 3.4 million bpd of crude. Oil and gas exports currently account for around 13% of the country’s exports and around 30% of the UAE’s GDP. As the UAE shows growing interest in developing its renewable energy capacity, the government has demonstrated that it has no plans to curb its oil and gas production in the coming years. In fact, state-owned energy company Adnoc hopes increase its crude production to 5 million bpd by 2025.
And some delegates were clearly unhappy with the decision to host the United Arab Emirates, with Alok Sharma, the British chair of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, say with visible anger“Those of us who came to Egypt to keep 1.5C alive and to live up to what each of us agreed to in Glasgow, had to fight tirelessly to hold the line.” With the UAE as the summit’s negotiator, experts believe there will inevitably be conflicts of interest during the event.
And many doubt the UAE’s commitment to transparent and impartial climate talks because of its action at this year’s COP summit. The country hired public relations and lobbying agencies to demonstrate its potential as a future conference host, even before the start of COP27. This is the first promotional effort of its kind, highlighting the political influence of the United Arab Emirates in Egypt.
Although some delegates are more optimistic about the UAE’s leadership at the upcoming summit. Egypt has been heavily criticized for allowing COP27 to become “untransparent, unpredictable and chaotic”. In contrast, the UAE has shown strong organizational skills in recent events, such as Expo 2020 in Dubai. It has also a proven track record in the international energy industry, with strong business relationships with several major world powers. In addition, the country is committed to diversifying its economy through development of a variety of renewable energy operations including the world’s largest single-site solar farm, small and large nuclear power plants, and the expansion of its pumped hydropower capacity.
Although the annual COP summits are seen as a means of holding world powers to their climate commitments and ensuring that global warming is limited in the coming decades, to avoid catastrophic climate events, with a growing influence coming from the oil and gas industry, many wonder if its goals will carry over into future conferences. The involvement of the major fossil powers in the COP27 and COP28 conferences has environmentalists wondering if this is just another case of greenwashing on an international scale, or if the conference’s objectives will be defended. by its delegates.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
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