The president of the UN’s COP28 climate conference has said that he sees a future for fossil fuels – even as scientists say the world must rapidly transition to clean energy – in remarks that have raised concerns about a backsliding on climate commitments. Sultan Al Jaber, who will oversee the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai in November,...
(Nairobi) – A company operating a gold mine in Ethiopia, Midroc Investment Group, and the Swiss refinery Argor-Heraeus that sourced its gold took no action over media reports about pollution from the mine for years, Human Rights Watch said today. An assessment carried out at the Ethiopian government’s request found that local residents had experienced serious health effects....
A leaked document purporting to be the original version of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah, committed Liberia to while on a visit to the UAE has contradicted the government’s pronouncement about a very lucrative carbon deal. The leaked document, which began circulating widely on social media last...
mpoverished migrant workers forced to pay thousands of pounds in illegal recruitment fees, housed in squalid accommodation and unable to leave their jobs voluntarily. Is this Qatar? UAE? Saudi Arabia? No, it’s post-Brexit Britain. Revelations that Nepali workers have allegedly been forced to pay extortionate fees to agents in Nepal for their jobs on a British farm supplying some of...
The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting this year’s UN climate summit, has the third biggest net zero-busting plans for oil and gas expansion in the world, the Guardian can reveal. Its plans are surpassed only by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The CEO of the UAE’s national oil company, Adnoc, has been controversially appointed president of...
“UAE climate event organisers warn speakers not to ‘criticise corporations,” Speakers at a climate and health conference in the United Arab Emirates were told not to protest or “criticise corporations” in a warning that cited the Gulf state’s laws, alarming campaigners ahead of the country hosting the UN’s COP28 climate summit this year. Organisers advised...
Andrew is enjoying a break this week. I’m Jan Kooy, taking care of the Daily Brief in the next few days.Should a deeply repressive country get to host UN climate talks?No, that would be an extremely bad idea.So how on earth did the United Arab Emirates become host of the upcoming and crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference,...
The city state warns it will be ‘inordinately costly’ to meet its climate promises. This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Chapter 3 of the project is presented by Holcim. Dubai’s underwhelming efforts to cuts its greenhouse gas emissions are causing it to consider...
The Gulf oil and gas exporter is going big on renewable energy investment and food security, while expanding hydrocarbon production. If there was a sign the United Arab Emirates is taking its role as host of the next UN climate talks seriously, the 1,073 delegates it registered to attend the Cop27 summit in Egypt would be it....
Global public subsidies for fossil fuels almost doubled to $700bn in 2021, analysis has shown, representing a “roadblock” to tackling the climate crisis. Despite the huge profits of fossil fuel companies, the subsidies soared as governments sought to shield citizens from surging energy prices as the global economy rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of...