By Ebi Kesiena
Climate activists have aired their opposition against COP28 President and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Sultan al-Jaber, ahead of their meeting in Dubai later in the year.
Speaking to the press, Kenyan climate campaigner, Eric Njuguna, denounced the choice of an oil giant boss to preside over the COP28 climate summit.
Njuguna and Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, participated in the Climate Change Conference in Germany.
“I think history records will show that in 2033 for COP 28, metaphorically speaking, we let a mosquito lead the fight against malaria. It’s a stab in the back for communities bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, but also the future generations who will be affected adversely by the climate crisis,” Njuguna said.
Sultan al-Jaber, head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, is to lead the Dubai climate negotiations.
Last week, Al-Jaber acknowledged that a reduction in the use of fossil fuels was “inevitable”.
Scientists and climate activists are pleading for a more rapid expansion of renewables, and a phase out of oil, coal and gas, given the significant proportion of climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions produced by these energy sources.
Climate activists want world leaders to agree to phase out fossil fuels at the UN climate negotiations in Dubai (COP28, Ed.) in late 2023, after failing at their summit in Glasgow in 2021 and again in Sharm-El-Sheikh in 2022.
But major oil and gas exporters are keen to shift the focus further downstream, arguing the world can reduce carbon emissions without ditching the fossil fuels that generate them.
