Al Gore criticized the United Arab Emirates for hosting a United Nations climate conference and appointing an oil executive to serve as the summit’s president, saying the move was “ridiculous” and “a direct conflict of interests.”
The former vice president made the comments on CNN’s State of the Union after visiting the COP28 Climate Change Conference and in reaction to remarks made by conference president Sultan al-Jaber, CEO of UAE state oil company ADNOC. al-Jaber said at an event last month that there is “no science” behind the calls for a phase out of fossil fuels to prevent 1.5 degrees Celsius of global temperature increases. al-Jaber has said the comments were “misinterpreted,” but experts told The Guardian that his words are “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial.”
“Can you explain why on earth a climate conference would be held in a major oil-producing country to begin with?” host Jake Tapper asked Gore.
“Well, it’s kind of ridiculous. It should not be, although it’s not so much that it’s in a country that produces oil. It’s the appointment of the CEO of one of the biggest and least responsible oil companies on the planet to be the head of the conference,” Gore said. “And here’s the reason that’s a direct conflict of interests, Jake. He’s charged by the U.N. with the responsibility of guiding the world toward a sharp phasedown of these greenhouse gas emissions, which mainly come from burning fossil fuels.”
Gore continued, “But he’s charged by his sovereign, and the company that he heads with a massive expansion of fossil fuels. They have got a plan to expand production of both oil and gas by an enormous amount, starting the minute the gavel bangs to end this conference.”
Fossil fuel interests have infiltrated the conference in other ways, including a record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance, according to Kick Big Polluters Out, as well as four times the number of oil and gas-affiliated industry officials attending compared to last year.
Additionally, last week, Politico obtained a pitch document from oil-rich Saudi Arabia that tried to claim renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and wind energy, are bad for the environment because they create lifecycle emissions. In other words, because emissions are produced in the manufacturing, transport, and other stages of renewable sources’ use, “we must also act immediately to address their lifecycle emissions in the near term. This will require emissions removal,” the document said. It’s an attempt to slow progress toward renewable energy and the transition away from fossil fuels.
“The people of our world deserve to have some confidence that this process has integrity,” Gore said. “And we have been seeing the fossil fuel polluters try to manipulate this process for a long time, and the world’s running out of patience, because this is so serious now.”
He added, “We’re seeing these extreme climate-related weather events just causing havoc all over the world. And the scientists — who’ve been spot on and dead right in their past predictions, we have seen it play out — we need to give them careful attention to what they’re saying would happen if we don’t phase out fossil fuels.”
Nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia have advocated for focusing on reducing climate pollution rather than targeting the source and phasing out fossil fuel use, sources familiar with negotiations told Reuters. But at least 80 countries — including the U.S., European Union, and nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change — are pushing for an eventual elimination of fossil fuel use.
Despite the obstacles to ending fossil fuels, the former vice president said he has not given up hope. “I’m hopeful that, this time, we will really finally see some meaningful action.”