The oil executive leading this year’s climate summit
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
Dozens of world leaders will gather in the UAE Thursday for the start of COP28, the biggest climate summit of the year. But this year’s host country has drawn scrutiny for putting the head of its national oil company in charge of the event.
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The stakes are high for this year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference: Many countries have exceeded emissions targets set to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, with time running out to change course.
As global climate correspondent Chico Harlan reports, it’s not uncommon for COP conferences to be held in countries that rely heavily on the oil industry, like this year’s host, the United Arab Emirates. But the UAE has already drawn scrutiny for placing Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the head of its national oil company, in charge of the conference. It’s just one of the contradictions in the petro-state’s approach to climate change.
As world leaders make their way to Dubai, Chico breaks down what they’re hoping to achieve at this year’s conference – and how the controversial president of this year’s event is shaping the agenda.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Mazda City is an unfinished dream city on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE. |
| 0:15.6 | As of today we have built around 600,000 square meters and around another 300,000 square meters, and around another 300,000 square meters under construction. |
| 0:27.8 | It's a place with big lofty goals to be the world's first city with no waste and no carbon emissions. |
| 0:37.0 | On the right-hand side next to the 10 megawatts solar field, you can see in |
| 0:41.0 | that that is an R&D area and we have |
| 0:43.7 | got some there's one test villa in there which is our first foray into |
| 0:49.7 | net zero energy home living. It's this place where it's not immediately clear how much of it is for show, how much of it is messaging towards the world, and how much of it is real. You know, it's hard to separate reality from hype |
| 1:04.6 | when you see a lot of these on paper claims. |
| 1:07.4 | That's Chico Harlan, a global climate correspondent for the post. |
| 1:14.1 | Chico got a tour of Masdar City earlier this month |
| 1:18.1 | to see how this oil-rich kingdom on the Persian Gulf is trying to be a pioneer in renewable energy and climate solutions. |
| 1:27.0 | It was just let's show the world how the UAE can transition away from oil, away from fossil fuels. |
| 1:35.0 | Chico saw cleverly designed buildings that generate their own shade and wind, |
| 1:41.0 | but so far, the city has not lived up to its goals. |
| 1:45.0 | They wanted a place for 90,000 people, it has 15,000. |
| 1:49.0 | And even, I should have mentioned, that even the people that do work at this place, most of them come in gas |
| 1:56.0 | guzzling cars. |
| 1:57.4 | So there is a quote unquote eco parking lot, but it's blanketed by vehicles that have just |
| 2:01.0 | driven 30 minutes from Central Abu Dhabi. |
| 2:03.4 | So it's not the paradise that they said it would be, and there's only three buildings out of dozens |
| 2:09.5 | that are totally carbon neutral. |
| 2:12.1 | And then you think, is the world going to be carbon neutral in 2050? |
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