There has been an unseemly controversy over the location of COP28 (the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)), to be held in the UAE later this year, with many Western analysts, environmentalists and media criticising the choice of the country as well as the President of the Conference. The President of the event – H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber – is the Managing Director and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

The criticism is baseless, as most of the COP meetings held so far have been in countries that are either big producers or consumers of fossil fuels. Indeed, Big Oil or Big Coal has always been at the centrestage in every single climate change meet so far.

‘Merchant of Death’ was the term used to describe Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish scientist and businessman who made millions selling dynamite, which he had invented. These explosives became the game changer in fiercely fought wars. Dynamite was the single most destructive invention ever in the history of weaponry and is still used in battles of the 21st Century. European newspapers stated in the 1860s that Alfred Nobel ‘made fortune by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before’.

More than 25 years later, Nobel decided to donate more than 90% of his life earnings to create a symbol of respect and honour for the people who contributed to the betterment of humankind. One of the categories, and globally most recognised, is the Nobel Peace Prize, which continues to inspire billions even in this present age. The Peace Prize is given annually to the person or society that renders the greatest service to the cause of humanity in the suppression or reduction of standing armies, or in the establishment or furtherance of peace.

The ‘Merchant of Death’ is now known as the ‘Messiah of Peace’! The fortune made by Alfred Nobel by ‘killing people’ is now deployed to honour the fortunate few for saving humankind. Since Nobel’s death, towards the end of the 19th century, the world awaits the Nobel Peace Prize every year and get inspired in this chaotic world.

Over a century later, another person is being handed out similar uncomplimentary sobriquets. The President of COP28 is unkindly referred to as the ‘Merchant of Disasters’. He is also called as the ‘fox in the henhouse’ by many in the Western media and their compatriot green activists.

The detractors, who mainly belong to the countries that bear the highest degree of responsibility for total inaction or, at best, delayed and diluted action on climate change for over three decades and for making COPs a theatric exercise of talk shows, have gone on overdrive in their comments against H.E. Dr. Al Jaber.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), was one of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for its studious and untiring global efforts to highlight the fatal risks facing the planet due to global warming and climate change. Right from the early 1990s, the IPCC has been warning policymakers that the root cause of climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases or GHGs. Carbon dioxide, emitted from burning of fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas, is the biggest contributor to climate change. The key solution to this problem of planetary proportion, therefore, is to get rid of fossil fuels altogether.

The latest report of the IPCC, released in April 2022, stated that ‘the global temperature will stabilise when carbon dioxide emissions reach ‘net zero’. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C means achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions globally in the early 2050s; for 2 degrees C, it is the early 2070s. The short-term indication that the world is on a net-zero path to achieve the target of 2 degrees C is that all global greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025, at the latest.

And here comes the illusive reason of shocking reactions reported in the Western press about the UAE’s decision to appoint H.E. Dr. Al Jaber as the President of COP28. The mainstream media, read the Western media, believes that the UAE is not the right place to hold COP28, and that even if it is held, H.E. Dr. Al Jaber, who is the Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC, cannot be appointed as President of COP28, as the meeting is meant to finalise the timeframe and measures needed for phasing out fossil fuels.

While on the surface, the critics’ views may be appealing, there are quite a few backstories to this tale. Let us understand the perspective. First of all, the UAE is the seventh largest oil-producing country in the world. The fourth largest oil-producing country and the sixth largest gas-producing country, Canada, has already hosted COP11.

Similarly, the fifth largest gas-producing country, Qatar was the host country for COP18. As regards coal-producing countries, the second largest (India), the third largest (Indonesia), the seventh largest (South Africa), the ninth largest (Germany) and the tenth largest (Poland) have all held COPs once, or more than once. Each country’s Environment or Energy Minister, Oil and Gas Minister as well as the officials handling fossil fuels have presided over these COPs. The other major stakeholders in fossil fuels, as producers and consumers – the United States, Russia and China – are yet to hold any COPs.

None of these host countries have demonstrated any decline in emission of GHGs since their role as host of respective COP meetings, though a country like India has shown national and international leadership in generating the nationwide ‘Net Zero’ campaign through lifestyle change and the International Solar Alliance.

Against this scenario, it is noteworthy that the UAE’s CO2 emission has reduced over the years, and it appears to have peaked in 2015. None of the countries from where past Presidents of COPs came, can boast of such achievements as that of the UAE.

And speaking of H.E. Dr. Al Jaber, he is a professional to the core and with a passion for innovation. He has risen to his present position only through exemplary career progression and not due to any familial linkages. His chemical engineering, business, economics and management education, including doctorate-level studies, from well-known universities in the United States and the United Kingdom, were financed by merit-based scholarships that he won.

He rose to become an important member of the UAE government, holding roles as Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Managing Director and Group CEO of ADNOC and as Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, otherwise known as Masdar.

His ambition seems to be forging ahead with renewable energy, and rightly so. His strategy seems to be clear – financing the development of renewable energy through the fortune made from the oil business. His Masdar project is a perfect example of this model – it involves using the large amount of sun that the UAE receives through the year by installing solar power-generating units, be it on rooftops or through immense solar parks that are spread across large tracts of desert-land in the country. He has also set up waste-to-energy plants in the UAE and also taken them overseas as part of Masdar, which is one of the largest developers of renewable energy with frontline technologies in the world.

Masdar City is fed by 10 MW of solar panels on ground and 1 MW on rooftops. Certainly, as compared to today’s large solar power plants in India and China, these capacities are relatively small; however, it is worth recalling that H.E. Dr. Al Jaber had initiated the Masdar project in 2008, much before the waves of large solar plants started striking the shores of sunny countries.

A multi-talented personality, H.E. Dr. Al Jaber had started his career as a process engineer. Now, as the Managing Director and Group CEO of an oil company and as the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Al Jaber has become an icon of the younger generation, mainly because of his initiatives in renewable energy, innovation and digital technologies.

He was invited by the UN Secretary General on the panel for High-Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All. He has been UAE’s climate envoy in earlier COPs. No other President of any COPs in the past has had such hands-on experience and credentials. To top it all, he is now leading a pathbreaking Green Hydrogen project through partnership with multi-nationals.

Dr Rajendra Shende

He has been awarded the Champion of the Earth award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi conferred on him the lifetime achievement award for his contributions to energy security, building bridges to emerging Asian economies and for reshaping traditional energy business models.

H.E. Dr. Al Jaber has a unique opportunity to demonstrate to the world – as has the UAE’s leadership, through the establishment of awards on sustainability and environmental protection – how a large oil-producing country can use its fortune for the betterment of humankind.

The world now has another opportunity to get to know yet one more Alfred Nobel. We should let H.E. Al Jaber not only preside over COP28 but also allow him to develop yet another out-of-the-box strategy to help rescue the world from climate disaster. He can use the money-making oil machine to establish another fund from profits of oil business to shame the developed countries who have not yet delivered on their promises of climate finances to developing countries. He can go beyond Alfred Nobel’s legacy to use the oil fortune to become the CEO of a worldwide venture that supports renewables and hydrogen energy.

As an old Indian adage goes, the best way to remove the thorn stuck in the body is to use another thorn. The climate thorn stuck in the planet’s body can be removed by deploying yet another thorn, a strategy that H.E. Dr. Al Jaber seems to be trying to perfect.

The writer is also the Founder-Director, Green TERRE Foundation; Prime Mover, SCCN; and Coordinating Lead Author, IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace Prize. He may be reached at shende.rajendra@gmail.com. He writes exclusively for Climate Control Middle East magazine.