FEBRUARY 2024 23 sees as the best way for them. The COP28 agreement offered several options to reduce carbon pollution, including “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems... accelerating action in this critical decade so as to achieve net zero by 2050.” While it seems logical to allow individual countries to decide how they reduce carbon pollution, the vague language surrounding the agreement could be considered shameful. There’s no imposing of a United Nations front whereby all the countries agree to reduce their GHG emissions, as when 196 countries agreed to abide by the climate-altering announcement of the Paris Agreement back in 2015. Yes, the countries already agreed in 2015, but the COP28 agreement uses wishy-washy language, such as “calls on” and “contribute.” Where is the language that says every country needs to and must do its part by backing up the language used in the Paris Agreement? Although not precisely calling Al Jaber’s leadership collusion with OPEC, some people were concerned even before COP28 began that his citizenship with an OPEC country may cloud the climate summit’s true intentions. But forget his citizenship; it’s his day job that is intriguing. Outside of leading COP28, Al Jaber is the Chief Executive Officer of the UAE state-run oil company, ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company). ADNOC is the 12th largest oil-producing company in the world, and Al Jaber has held this leadership position since February 2016. ADNOC has, as of 2021, an oil production capacity exceeding four million barrels per day (bpd), with plans to increase to five million bpd by 2030. In other words, it has no plans on slowing down and “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems” any time soon, despite the casual wording of the COP28 agreement. Between now and 2050, only Saudi Arabia is expected to produce more oil. Before COP28, ADNOC stated that over the next four years, it was planning to increase its production capacity by seven percent. To ADNOC’s credit, it acknowledged at that time While some countries are avoiding the GHG emissions problem, Canada’s many industries have been working hard for many years to reduce the country’s GHG emissions. georgeclerk/E+ photo
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