The UAE, host of this year’s global climate summit, is planning to use the event to make oil deals, according to leaked notes.
Tensions are running high in the runup to the UN climate summit in Dubai, where governments from around the world are discussing strategies to reduce their countries’ carbon emissions. The summit is a crucial event in the global effort to tackle climate change, and is being hosted by the Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, documents recently leaked to the media suggest that the UAE has been plotting to use the event to further its own interests, specifically in the oil industry.
The documents, originally acquired by The Independent newspaper, suggest that the UAE has been working with Saudi Arabia to use the summit as a platform for oil deals, expanding the reach of the Middle Eastern country’s oil industry into other countries. Specifically, the UAE is allegedly looking to increase the number of countries which import its crude oil from its current total of around 80 countries.
The exact tactics and strategies that the UAE is allegedly attempting to employ are unclear, but the documents suggest that the country is looking to use the summit as a way to network and make connections with delegates from other countries. Additionally, the country is allegedly hoping to use its status as host of the event to make itself appear more sympathetic toward climate change initiatives, enabling it to curb any potential criticism of its oil industry.
The UAE’s actions represent a blatant contradiction of the summit’s purpose: to bring nations together to take steps to reduce the levels of carbon emissions that are contributing to global warming. The country has yet to comment publicly on the leaked documents, but its hypocrisy has already been widely condemned.
The UN climate summit is a crucial event in the global effort to tackle climate change, and it’s unethical for any country to use it as a platform for personal gain. The UAE now faces a crossroads, and if these allegations are proven to be true, it must take swift and decisive action to repair its image and prove that it takes climate change seriously.