COP28 President: Why Emirati oil executive continues to face flak

The controversy surrounding the appointment of UAE oil executive Sultan Ahmed Al Jabar as the new COP28 president has once again gained traction after allegations were made on social media that multiple accounts on Twitter, now X, have been shaping a narrative to portray him in a positive light.

In January this year, over two dozen US lawmakers called on the country’s climate envoy John Kerry, asking him to use American influence over the UAE and have Jabar replaced as COP28 chief.

Four months later, several US lawmakers wrote to President Joe Biden, seeking Jabar to be ousted from the position.

The conflict of interest, as pointed out by US lawmakers and many activists, centres around Jabar’s portfolio – he’s not only the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, but also the Managing Director and group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). He is also the chairman of Masdar, a UAE-government owned energy company.

ADNOC’s plans to boost oil and gas production by 25 percent by 2030, a goal climatic scientists say could be catastrophic for the COP climate pledges.

A recent report prepared by a climate disinformation specialist claims that 100 Twitter or X accounts were “discreetly working together to promote [COP28] and its hosts”.

About 500 posts were “singing praises” of Jabar and the climate conference, which is set to be hosted by the UAE in November. Most of these accounts reportedly belonged to young Emirati women with a range of interests that include cats, luxury travel, fashion and more.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools were also used to create several of the profile pictures belonging to the network of 108 accounts.

One of the accounts posted: “[Jaber] is a successful man in many fields, and I am sure that he will succeed in chairing #COP28 because he succeeded in many positions.” Several of the suspect handles were also noticed sharing similar messages, sometimes within minutes of each other.

The UAE however rejects the news report that alleged troll accounts were activated to promote Jabar. A COP28 spokesperson told British media they have “retained counsel to engage with Twitter (X) on the matter, as these accounts are being generated by outside actors with a clear intention to discredit them.”

ADNOC, which Jabar heads, recently came under fire after a British newspaper reported that the COP28 office was sharing an email server with ADNOC, which allowed the Emirati oil company to read emails sent to and from COP28.

Despite mounting criticism over Jabar's appointment as COP28 chief, the UAE has engaged in extensive PR campaigns to position itself as a leader in environmental awareness, ahead of the UN climate conference in November.