Countries that Blocked 'Welcoming' of Major Climate Science Report at UN Talks have Dozens of Delegates with Ties to Oil, Gas, and Mining

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Dozens of delegates from four countries that forced the UN climate negotiations to weaken language around the acceptance of a major climate science report have ties to the oil, gas and miningย industries.

At least 35 delegates from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and the US are either currently employed or used to work for companies and organisations involved in the petrochemical and mining industriesย or lobbying on behalf of thoseย industries.

On Saturday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) โ€œnotedโ€ the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeโ€™s (IPCC) landmark 1.5 degrees report at the annual talks in Katowice, Poland. Poor and undeveloped countries, small island states, Europeans and many others called to change the wording to โ€œwelcomeโ€ the study, Climate Home reported.

The IPCCโ€™s report, released in October 2018, warned that the world has 12 years to radically cut emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change. The report was commissioned by countries at the annual climate talks in Paris inย 2015.

Of the 35 delegates DeSmog UK has identified with ties to the fossil fuel and mining industries, 12 are representing Saudi Arabia, and nine are representing Russia. NGO Climate Tracker previously identified 13 delegates representing Kuwait that worked for the fossil fuelย industry.

Most of the Saudi Arabian delegates currently work for state oil and gas producer Saudi Aramco – reportedly the most profitable company in the world – including Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabiaโ€™s Minister Energy, Industry and Natural Resources and chairman of Saudi Aramco. The company is estimated to be worth around $2 trillion.

Two of the Russian delegates at this yearโ€™s annual talks work for natural gas producer Gazprom, in which the Russian government holds the majority stake. Six delegates work for aluminium producer, Rusal. The Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, who is listed as a delegate at the climate talks, worked for oil and gas company Purneftegazgeologiya between 1996 andย 2001.

Many of the representatives for Kuwait on the list work for state-owned Kuwait Oilย Company.

The one US delegate on the list, Kimberly Carnahan, previously worked for the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), a corporate group that lobbies on behalf of major emitters at theย talks.

โ€˜Currentย Gapsโ€™

The coalition of countries managed to block a change in the wording of the statement after hours of negotiations and failure to find a compromise. Saudi Arabia reportedly threatened to block and disrupt the full second weeks of the talks over theย issue.

Saudi Arabiaโ€™s delegation clarified its position on Monday, stating in a pressย release:

โ€œThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recognizes the efforts of the IPCC in developing a comprehensive, neutral and non-policy prescriptive reports, including the 1.5ยฐCย Report.โ€

โ€œWe recognize that the current gaps, including the limited literature and scientific uncertainties in the 1.5ยฐC Report, still requireย further research and analysis in order to address theseย gaps.โ€

Ayman Shasly, a senior negotiator for Saudi Arabia at the climate talks, defended the country’s position on the IPCC report in a long interview with Carbon Brief. Heย said:

โ€œWeโ€™re saying we ‘noted’ย it because noting it [means] youโ€™re taking account of what the report is. Youโ€™re looking at it, you noted it. But you would not say things like, you ‘welcome’ย it, youโ€™re welcome to ‘appreciate’ย it, because that [means] we are giving legitimacy to some scientific report, supposedly thereโ€™s a full-fledged scientific report that had its own issues of scientific gaps, knowledge gaps, and that was with the admission, with the exception of panel [inaudible], that this is an incompleteย report.โ€

Shasly worked for Saudi Aramco inย China.

Image:ย Kancelaria Premiera, Publicย Domain

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Mat was DeSmog's Special Projects and Investigations Editor, and Operations Director of DeSmog UK Ltd. He was DeSmog UKโ€™s Editor from October 2017 to March 2021, having previously been an editor at Nature Climate Change and analyst at Carbon Brief.

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