Al Gore says it’s ‘ridiculous’ that UAE hosted climate conference

Former Vice President Al Gore on Sunday said it was “ridiculous” that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — a major oil-producing country — hosted the COP28 climate summit.

“Well, it’s kind of ridiculous,” Gore said when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union why the UAE hosted the climate conference. “It should not be, although it’s not so much that it’s in a country that produces oil. It’s the appointment of the CEO of one of the biggest and least responsible companies on the planet to be the head of the conference.”

The UAE has received backlash over its decision to make Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, CEO of the UAE’s national oil and gas company, the host of the COP28 climate summit this year. Al-Jaber had also faced criticism after he suggested there was “no evidence” that phasing out fossil fuels would achieve climate goals.

Gore said al-Jaber’s company has plans “to expand production of both oil and gas by an enormous amount starting the minute the gavel bangs to end this conference.” He accused the host of having a conflict of interest due to his role as head of the oil and gas company.

“The people of our world deserve to have some confidence that this process has integrity, and we’ve been seeing the fossil fuel polluters try to manipulate this process for a long time,” Gore said.

“And the world is running out of patience because this, this is so serious. Now we’re in the hottest year ever measured. We’re seeing these extreme climate-related weather events causing havoc all over the world,” he continued.

He said that everyone needs to pay “careful attention” to those scientists who predicted that the world would reach record-breaking temperatures. Gore, a longtime climate activist, previously criticized the host of the conference for having a conflict of interest.

“They are abusing the public’s trust by naming the CEO of one of the largest and least responsible oil companies in the world as head of the COP,” Gore told Reuters in an interview at the conference in Dubai last week.