Nov 29, 2023
EXPOSED: Climate Summit President Caught Using Role To Make Oil Deals
Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and president of COP28, was caught using his role for oil business talks.
- 12 minutes
We all know that this cup
is not an ordinary cup.
We know that this cup comes
at an inflection point of the world.
In fact, it is our view and our belief
that this is the most
[00:00:18]
consequential cup after all, since.
Since Paris. Am I. Right?
Unfortunately, we just can't trust
the powerful people tasked with addressing
the climate emergency to actually
do their jobs, because we just found out
[00:00:34]
in a pretty stunning story
that the guy that you just heard from his
his name is Sultan Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.
He is the president of Cop 28,
a global climate conference that's being
held in the United Arab Emirates.
[00:00:51]
We just found out that that guy
has been striking deals
for fossil fuels during this conference.
There were documents leaked to prove it.
We're going to show you those documents.
According to those leaked documents
obtained by the center for Climate
[00:01:06]
Reporting and the BBC,
Al Jaber used his powerful position
as the head of the conference
to lobby for oil and gas deals with almost
30 other nations, 30 G. Is there
a possibility that this could be leaked?
[00:01:25]
I mean, there's so few people involved
in these shady deals that Cop 28.
So why did he do that?
Well, he also happens to be the CEO
of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company,
or Adnoc, which provides
about 3% of the world's oil.
[00:01:42]
So, you know, there's a little bit
of a conflict of interest there.
First of all, what is this conference?
What are the goals?
I think it's important to really
understand that, to really absorb how
incredible it is that this guy is making
fossil fuel deals with 30 other nations.
[00:01:58]
The hope of Cop 28 will help limit
the long term global temperature rise
to 1.5 Celsius, which the UN's climate
science body says is crucial to avoid
the worst impacts of climate change.
But that will require drastic cuts
in greenhouse gas emissions, it says a 43%
[00:02:18]
reduction by 2030 from 2019 levels.
By the way, the planet has already warmed
1.2°C, and we're already dealing
with a lot of the negative impacts that
come along with a rapidly warming climate.
We're seeing it in extreme weather events.
[00:02:35]
We're seeing it in flooding. We're.
We're seeing glaciers melt,
including the Mendenhall Glacier
in Alaska, which led to flooding
in a community in Alaska just this year.
We're seeing so many examples of that.
So the idea that the president
of Cop 28 this year is wheeling
[00:02:55]
and dealing behind the scenes with 30
other countries in order to establish
more production of fossil fuels.
Just this is the reason why people
have lost faith in institutions.
They've lost faith
in these types of conferences.
This is why it happens.
[00:03:10]
This is why people fall
into the unfortunate rabbit
holes of conspiracy theories.
Because who do you trust when the people
in power say that they're doing one thing,
but then they're in smoke filled rooms
behind the scenes,
doing the exact opposite
of what they claim they want to do.
[00:03:26]
John, what are your thoughts?
Devil's advocate the faster we can burn
all of these fossil fuels, the faster
we no longer have fossil fuels to burn.
Just take it off the table.
Don't have to worry about it anymore.
Arguably.
Maybe he wants the deal
to get the oil so nobody can burn it.
[00:03:41]
Maybe that's why.
No sarcasm aside, the two major bits
of news about Cop so far that have come
out this week, I'm like not 100%,
but kind of happy about with it being this
and Joe Biden being like, I don't care.
I'm not doing any of that.
I think there are good bits of news
because look, John.
[00:04:00]
What? No, I like it.
John, please balance out
my negativity today.
I need it, I need it. Go ahead.
Oh it's dark. Good news, not good.
Good news, but the good, the dark.
Good news is, if Biden went,
then it might fool some people
into thinking that he takes it seriously.
[00:04:15]
Now he's not even trying to fool people.
And maybe that will be a signal to voters,
including young voters who are already
questioning him, that, oh yeah, no,
he's not good on these issues.
Maybe we need somebody much better.
He's not even pretending anymore,
and having the head of it doing oil deals
[00:04:32]
could be a reminder.
Oh, yeah, they don't really get much done
at these anyway, so maybe we just need
a big headline like this
that tells everybody you don't need
to have any expectations for this.
It's BS. It's networking for people
who are tied in with fossil fuels,
[00:04:47]
fossil fuels and energy and all of that.
So I think these are both great signals
to people that this isn't the answer.
And there are potential answers.
And the longer we take
to get to that answer,
the more radical the answer needs to be.
But maybe this helps stimulate
some sort of push towards that.
[00:05:05]
I doubt it.
Now look, it is the president of Cop
20 job to meet with other world leaders
at the conference.
So there's nothing wrong with doing that.
The problem is, when you don't encourage
other countries to be ambitious,
[00:05:20]
as ambitious as possible in responding
to the climate emergency, and instead
decide to use it as an opportunity
to make these deals face to face in regard
to fossil fuels that have actually led
to the destruction of the planet.
Now, documents revealing plans
to discuss fossil fuel deals were prepared
[00:05:39]
by the UAE's Cop 28 team for meetings with
at least 27 foreign governments ahead of
the summit, which starts on November 30th.
Okay, so many of the talking points
were actually dictated by the Abu
[00:05:55]
Dhabi National Oil Company itself.
Let's provide some of those
documents for you right now.
Here's one example.
So they included proposed talking points,
such as one for China, which says
that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is
willing to jointly elevate international
[00:06:12]
liquefied natural gas opportunities
in Mozambique, Canada and Australia.
The documents suggest
telling a Colombian minister that Adnoc,
that's the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company,
stands ready to support Colombia
[00:06:27]
to develop its fossil fuel resources.
There are talking points for 13 other
countries, including Germany and Egypt,
which suggests telling them
Adnoc wants to work with their governments
to develop fossil fuel projects.
[00:06:42]
Here's some more evidence
that was leaked to reporters.
Okay, so what you're looking at
is a document that instructs the team
to ask the Brazilian environment minister
for help securing alignment
and endorsement for Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company's bid for Latin America's largest
[00:07:00]
oil and gas processing company, Braskem.
And then earlier this month, Adnoc made
a $2.1 billion offer to buy a key stake.
Adnoc suggested the oil producing
nations of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
[00:07:17]
Be told there's no conflict
between the sustainable development
of any country's natural resources
and its commitment to climate change.
Well, what do you have to say
about that, John?
What do you think about that talk?
Look, natural resources of a country
can mean a lot of different things.
It doesn't have to mean fossil fuels.
[00:07:32]
It can be the talent of the youngsters.
Right?
It could be the.
Sure. That's what they were thinking of.
Delicious glacial water.
I don't know, water.
Yeah.
Look, look, that's that's that's how all
of the oil companies and the natural gas,
fossil gas, not natural gas,
is not made of whole whole grain oats or
[00:07:50]
something like they it's just marketing.
It's fossil fuels and gaseous.
For my hate that that has become
so standardized that everyone accepts it.
Yeah. No, this is what they've been with.
BP has been saying.
All of them, they're like,
oh, people take this really seriously.
So now we take it seriously too.
[00:08:06]
We're still going to develop it,
but we're also going to do a little bit
of spending on the renewable stuff.
And that's sustainable.
No, we need to we need to draw back
as fast as possible.
And right now, it is insane to me
that we don't have a problem
with how much renewable energy
is just being completely wasted right now.
[00:08:23]
All of the places that we could be
generating solar energy, the sun is just
hitting the ground right now, all
the geothermal that could be being built.
And thankfully Google has
that new geothermal plant
that they've been spooling up.
I don't know that technology as well,
but it seems interesting.
It seems like they should
put some funding into it.
Hydro energy
and you know, like wind energy.
[00:08:42]
The wind is there. It's there right now.
We could be tapping into it,
but we're choosing not to.
And instead we're putting investments
still putting investments and subsidies
into fossil fuel development
because it's sustainable.
No, what they want to be sustainable is
continued profits for the companies that
have been making money for over 100 years
in this stuff, that's what they want to be
[00:08:59]
sustainable until they're dead and buried.
Yeah.
And I mean, look, I, I feel sympathy
for developing countries that look at the
United States and everything that we've
done, you know, through fossil fuels and
the advancements that we've experienced,
the simpler lives that we've experienced
[00:09:18]
as a result of those advancements.
You know, they're looking at all of that.
And it's like,
who is the United States to tell us
that we can't develop our own country?
I think that
that is a legitimate argument.
And so we do need to help them
in developing cleaner sources of energy.
[00:09:34]
I think when wind and solar is fine,
it's still not enough to close the gap
that would be left behind
from the dirtier forms of energy, right?
Whether you're talking about coal, oil,
natural gas, which releases methyl.
Wait, what? I'm kidding.
I hate the term natural gas so much,
it just bothers me so much.
[00:09:50]
But anyway, what do you
what do you like to call it?
- Fossil gas.
- Okay.
- Fossil gas.
- That's literally what it is.
Natural gas is just branding.
They came up with it as a thing
to make it more palatable.
- I mean, oh, it's all natural.
- It releases farts in the air, right?
Methane, basically. Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Lots of farts.
How much do you like farts?
[00:10:06]
Farts are bad.
They're bad for the environment.
- Think about it.
- But I like your plan.
Some sort of.
I don't want to trigger Laura Ingraham
or whatever, but some sort of, like,
carbon reparations to all of the countries
that have been left behind
as we burn through so much of not just our
natural resources, but the world's natural
[00:10:23]
resources, I think that there could be
some sort of equity in that way.
Definitely.
So let's just quickly wrap this up
by talking about the response
to this reporting that showed
that the president of Cop 28 this year
engaged in these fossil fuel deals.
[00:10:38]
Well, the Cop 28 team didn't deny
using meetings about the summit
for business talks.
In fact, one spokesperson said
this Dr. Sultan Al Jaber.
Oh, is he a doctor really? Like.
[00:10:54]
Anyway, whatever. I have no idea.
Sultan Al Jaber
holds a number of positions.
I just feel like they got to stick to one.
Is he the Sultan?
Is he a doctor?
One's more of a political.
One's more of an academic.
I imagine it's probably a doctorate,
a PhD sort of thing.
Dr. Sultan Al holds a number of positions
alongside his role as Cop 28,
[00:11:12]
president designate.
This is public knowledge.
Private meetings are private.
We do not comment on them. Wow.
Great. Great explanation.
Great explanation
for the very clear conflict,
conflict of interest taking place here.
They also declined to comment
on what was discussed in those meetings,
[00:11:30]
and said its work has been focused
on meaningful climate action.
A spokesperson for the summit defended
the choice of Al-Jaber as president,
saying this the Cop 28 presidency
has been consistent in our position
that it does not make sense to exclude
the people who understand the most
[00:11:49]
about the current energy system from
conversations about the energy transition.
No, but he's not looking to transition.
He's not looking to transition.
He's looking to continue the very thing
that needs to stop, right?
[00:12:04]
Because it's leading to climate change.
So there's no transition
being talked about here.
But let me continue with the rest
of that statement, though.
The momentum we have seen building as a
result makes us confident that we will be
able to deliver powerful results in Dubai.
[00:12:21]
Anyway, enough of the ridiculous,
thin, thin, thin excuses
and thin defenses like this
is unacceptable and it totally undermines
and discredits the conference itself.
Thanks for watching the video guys.
[00:12:36]
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