Oil and Green Smoke UAE Forest: In late September, Zimbabwes environment minister signed away control over a staggering amount of land almost 20% of his country to a little-known foreign company. Blue Carbon was a small, new outfit, not even a year old, but its chief was no fledgling entrepreneur: he was an Emirati royal whose family had ruled Dubai for 190 years, flush with oil money.
The Dubai-based Blue Carbon has secured forested land nearly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom across five African nations to run projects to conserve forests that might otherwise be logged, preventing huge amounts of planet-heating carbon dioxide, or CO2, from entering the atmosphere.
Blue Carbon can then use that conservation to create carbon credits to sell to companies and governments to offset the climate pollution they generate while they continue to burn planet-warming fossil fuels.
The flurry of forest conservation deals with Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Liberia and Tanzania were announced in the months ahead of the annual United Nations COP28 climate summit, being hosted this year in December by the United Arab Emirates. But according to several analysts and climate advocates spoke with for this story, these conservation deals are the latest attempt by the petrostate to use green initiatives as a smokescreen for its plans to continue pumping fossil fuels.
At the same time, the UAE has said it plans to extract its very last barrel of oil 50 years from now, when its reserves are projected to dry up decades beyond when scientists say society needs to be done with fossil fuel.
A spokesperson would not confirm to that the company would sell those credits to the UAE, but given Blue Carbons chairman, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, is a relative of Dubais royal ruler who also serves as the UAEs prime minister the widely held assumption among analysts spoke with is that these credits will be sold to the UAE to offset its enormous carbon footprint. They could also be sold to other oil-reliant nations and companies in the Gulf and beyond. It has reached out to the UAE government for comment.
Blue Carbon would not confirm to the area size of all its projects, how much money it has provided in financing or how many credits it hopes to generate. The agreements are in initial stages and not yet finalized.
Also Read: RSV Surge Signals Holiday Health Alert in Santa Clara County
But the company did tell it would present its deals at the COP28 summit in Dubai as a blueprint for carbon trading. The annual climate summit is where global leaders and negotiators from nearly 200 countries will convene to decide how and when to ramp down fossil fuel use. The UAE is expected to use its COP28 presidency to push hard to include carbon removal ?not just from forests, but also from oil and gas as they burn and then storing it underground central solution to the climate crisis.
Climate advocates have criticized carbon removal and scientists remain skeptical of its efficacy as a ticket for companies to continue to produce and burn fossil fuels on a large scale, even expand, and profit handsomely.
The UAE has a lot to lose, financially. Oil and gas account for around 30% of its GDP and 13% of its exports as of last year, according to the US Department of Commerce. More than 80 countries support phasing out fossil fuels, and renewable energy, like wind and solar, are now so cost competitive in most parts of the world that market forces will eventually squeeze oil and gas out anyway.
Unless, that is, fossil fuel companies and lobbyists can convince the world at COP28 not to rely too much on wind and solar, and to keep pumping oil and gas.
The UAE has already been hit with a barrage of criticism since it put Sultan Al Jaber who runs the nations mammoth oil and gas company, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and serves as the nations international climate envoy in charge of the negotiations. More than 100 members of the US Congress and the European Parliament in May called for Al Jaber to be replaced as COP28 president.
Al Jaber sees no conflict of interest in his many roles, he has said in multiple interviews. Nor does ADNOC, which told in an email that there was no one more qualified, to lead the negotiations, pointing to his experience as leader of the nations renewable energy vehicle, Masdar, as well as its fossil fuels oil and gas company
Al Jaber has long argued that fossil fuel companies need to be at the table in climate negotiations to ensure the green transition actually happens.
There is a certain logic to the argument, but climate advocates arent buying it, pointing instead to all the time the fossil fuel industry has had to show leadership on the issue, but hasnt. Some fossil fuel companies were among the first to understand their products were causing climate change. That was around four decades ago, yet they continued to profit from coal, oil and gas.
I think that ADNOC has turned the UN climate negotiations into a giant greenwashing operation for one of the largest oil companies on the planet, said Jamie Henn, founder and executive director of the non-profit Fossil Free Media, which supports the movement to end fossil fuels. Its been clear from the start when the UAE applied to host this COP that one of the main goals of the meeting was for them to try and situate themselves, and their oil and gas industry by extension, as somehow part of the climate solution.
As of 2020, the UAE was responsible for around 0.53% of the worlds CO2 emissions, according to data from Climate Watch, but with a small population of nearly 10 million people, its the sixth-largest carbon polluter per capita. Despite its relatively small population, the UAE was the worlds seventh-biggest oil producer by volume in 2022.
Henn said it was absurd that the negotiations had been taken over by fossil fuel interests.
Its like the international tobacco control negotiations being run by Philip Morris. Luckily, the UN has rules in place for those negotiations, where they dont let tobacco lobbyists at the table, H
Our Reader’s Queries
Does UAE plan huge oil and gas expansion as it hosts UN climate summit?
New data reveals that the United Arab Emirates, host of the upcoming Cop28, has the world’s largest expansion plans for oil production that will significantly contribute to climate change. The state oil company, whose CEO will lead the UN climate negotiations, has the biggest net-zero-busting plans compared to any other company globally. This news highlights the urgent need for action to address the devastating impact of fossil fuels on our planet.
What is the UAE fund for Africa?
Today, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber unveiled a new UAE finance initiative aimed at unleashing Africa’s clean energy potential. The initiative will provide a whopping US$4.5 billion in funding, paving the way for a brighter, more sustainable future for the continent. With this significant investment, Africa will be able to tap into its vast renewable energy resources and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. This move is a testament to the UAE’s commitment to promoting sustainable development and combating climate change on a global scale.
How do carbon credits work?
The carbon credit system provides companies with a fixed number of credits that decrease gradually. These credits can be sold to other companies if there is an excess. This system encourages companies to reduce their carbon emissions by offering a financial incentive. Even if a company finds it difficult to reduce emissions, they can still operate, but at a higher cost. This way, the carbon credit system ensures that companies are held accountable for their carbon footprint.