Row over CoP28 president

Subject: Environment/Environmental conferences

Section: Climate Change

Context:

The UAE, the host of CoP28, has announced its industry Minister Sultan Al Jaber will be the president of the conference.

So, what is the controversy?

Sultan Al Jaber besides being the minister for Industry and Advanced Technology also happens to be the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the world’s 12th largest oil company by production.
This shows a clear case of conflict of interest.

Post of CoP president: Their role and responsibilities:

The government of the host country holds the presidency for one year.
It usually names one of its ministers as the president.
The role of the CoP president is to facilitate and guide the negotiations.
The President does not have any special powers but does play a key role in prioritising the agenda of discussions and helping forge a consensus on important issues.
They are usually extremely active behind the scenes, brokering deals and compromises, mediating conflicts, and acting as crisis managers.
However, the final decisions are always taken by consensus.
Extended role of COP presidents:
- For the past few years, COP presidents have engaged in pre-conference diplomacy, travelling all over the world to hold discussions with governments in order to understand their priorities and to get a sense of the kind of agreement that could be realistically achieved at the conference.
There have been several instances when a single country– and not one from among the most powerful- has stood up and disagreed with the rest of the world, and the conference had to accommodate its concerns.