Carbon colonialism, COP28 and climate crisis
AMY GOODMAN AND DENIS MOYNIHAN
Dubai
More than 100.000 people have flocked to the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, making it the largest in history. The goal of COP28, the 28th annual “Conference of the Parties” to the climate negotiations, is to stop catastrophic climate change. As the impacts of the climate emergency become ever more frequent and destructive—from droughts, hurricanes and typhoons, wildfires, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and more—problems with the UN climate negotiation process itself are magnified; oil and gas producing nations and corporations that profit from fossil fuels dominate, delaying meaningful progress.
First example: COP28 is being held in the United Arab Emirates, the seventh oil-producing country on the planet, and the COP presidency is currently held by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company of the UAE. .
The decision to have an oil boss lead climate change negotiations has been described as Orwellian. This week, The Guardian reported on comments Al Jaber made on November 21 during a live web event hosted by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN special envoy on climate change.
Robinson asked Al Jaber if he would not advocate a “phase-out” of fossil fuels, but rather a complete “phase-out” that science says is necessary to limit global temperature rise above pre-industrial levels to 1,5 degrees Celsius (2,7 degrees Fahrenheit). Al Jaber responded bluntly,
“There is no science or scenario that says that phasing out fossil fuels is what is going to get us to 1,5… Show me a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels that will enable sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back to the caves.”
The Guardian report came shortly after another from the Center for Climate Reporting based on leaked documents containing background reports on officials from several countries attending COP28, to help the UAE secure oil and gas deals with them.
The environmental coalition The Kick Big Polluters Out published an analysis that reveals that about 2.500 fossil fuel lobbyists have flooded COP28, outnumbering all but two national delegations.
“You wouldn’t invite arms dealers to a peace conference,” said David Tong of Oil Change International. Pacific Climate Warrior Drue Slatter from Fiji added: “It’s because they’re scared. There are more of them [lobbyists] here because they know the fossil fuel era is coming to an end.”
While lobbyists enjoy virtually unfettered access to COP28, climate activists say they are finding it harder to secure credentials than in previous years. Add to this the UAE’s authoritarian and strict ban on protests, and the UN climate summit looks more like what climate scientist Kevin Anderson wrote on social media: “a cabal of oil producers, not a climate COP.”
Beyond the summit’s sprawling, air-conditioned venue, the planet continues to warm. The European Union said Wednesday that this year will be the warmest on record. A scientific study on ecological tipping points by a team of 200 researchers warned: “If urgent action is not taken to halt the climate and ecological crisis, societies will be overwhelmed as the natural world collapses.”
One “urgent action” being discussed at COP28 is the development of so-called “carbon markets.” A consortium of organizations published a report, “The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing,” detailing the many problems posed by these markets, which involve the buying and selling of carbon credits. When a government protects an area of forest, for example, it earns credits that it can then sell. The buyer can then pollute elsewhere, offsetting the pollution with those credits.
"Carbon credits are nothing more than permits to pollute," he said. Mohamed Adow, director of the climate think tank Power Shift Africa, on the Democracy Now!
Among the countries buying up such African land rights in exchange for carbon credits is COP28 host the United Arab Emirates. To date, a private company called Blue Carbon, owned by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai’s ruling royal family, has acquired rights to 10% of Liberia, 8% of Tanzania, 10% of Zambia and 20% of Zimbabwe, as well as “millions of hectares” in Kenya. While such deals could protect undeveloped land, they could also force indigenous peoples off their land or lose their rights to use it.
"Sixty years ago, African countries gained their independence. We were able to kick the colonisers out of our lands. What they are doing now is basically introducing this new form of colonialism," said Mohamed Adow.
Carbon colonialism only guarantees worsening climate disasters. Science and climate activists around the world agree: what is needed is a rapid, complete, fair and funded phase-out of all fossil fuels.
