Listen to Eriel, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action, speak for Indigenous rights in climate finance in this Instagram video.
Dubai is a terraformed capitalist dream with metro stops named by the highest bidder and energy-intensively desalinated drinking water; wealth is power. Sultan al-Jaber, who presides over this year’s UN climate conference, runs the UAE’s national oil company and also said there is “no science” behind the phase-out of fossil fuels. It is no coincidence that there are at least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists here (up from the 636 last year).
The conflict of interest is not simply an elephant in the room, it is the entire container and design of this year’s climate conference. The physical space of the conference was built by migrant workers in 42C (108 degrees F) heat, the real human cost of record high heat and record high fossil fuel emissions, reported in the UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report– and one of many reasons our member Taproot Earth has chosen not to attend COP28 this year, while still calling for “an immediate, fair, and absolute phase-out of fossil fuels.”
Here’s an excerpt from their statement:
Our decision not to attend COP28 is informed by the fact that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the leading expanders of oil and gas production, is setting the stage. The UAE appointed a sitting fossil fuel CEO as President of the annual climate talks, with plans to roll out the red carpet for industry to deploy more damage to the planet and undermine the voices of the global frontline communities already struggling from the impacts of the climate crisis.
The UAE is one of many state actors driving environmental destruction and fueling violence for the sake of profit and at the expense of the Black communities around the globe: this includes UAE’s massive land theft for carbon offsets in a host of African countries including Kenya and Liberia, UAE’s mine development deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UAE’s arming and aiding of paramilitary forces against civilians in Sudan, and cruel and illegal treatment of African migrant workers including many exploited used to prepare Dubai for the climate talks.
As representatives from the U.S., the Climate Justice Alliance has a responsibility to be here and hold the line on negotiations, demanding repair of our communities that have been harmed. When co-executive director Ozawa Bineshi Albert met with members of the U.S. negotiations team, they asked if we prioritized “phase down,” “phase out,” or “abatement” language. It is clear we must transcend the logic of the space itself. We can’t expect to even mitigate the climate crisis if we’re still expanding fossil fuel development under the Biden Administration. A complete phase out is necessary now. | 
