COP28: UAE Statecraft and Climate Diplomacy
Summary: the UAE is using clever statecraft and COP28 to position
itself as the champion of climate action for the Global South while
further enhancing its international political clout.
We thank Matthew Hedges for today’s newsletter. Matthew is an
academic focussing on authoritarian regimes with an emphasis on the
monarchies of the Gulf states. He is the author of Reinventing the Sheikhdom: Clan, Power and Patronage in Mohammed bin Zayed’s UAE published by Hurst in 2022. You can find Matthew’s podcast conversation about the book here.
The UAE’s hosting of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change
(COP28) has faced global criticism, yet its statecraft strategy has
expertly amplified the small Gulf state’s global platform. Despite being
one of the world’s largest exporters of oil and amongst the highest per
capita consumers of energy and with the head of its national oil
company ADNOC in charge of COP28 the UAE has positioned itself as a
leading climate voice for the Global South. COP28 has provided a
politicised and legitimate vehicle for the UAE to manipulate and extend
its international footprint, while also supporting its short-term aim of
shaping climate action policies in its own interests.
COP28 provides all states with an equal vote, levelling the
international domain. Through this lens the UAE’s foreign policy related
to climate action can be fully understood. There is no region-specific
focus to the UAE’s outreach, rather a global effort that has exploited
and builds on worldwide anxiety of a looming climate catastrophe.
Emirati statecraft orientation around climate action demonstrates a
good governance that will help to secure support during COP28
negotiations. On every continent the UAE has heightened investment and
developments through the prism of climate action and development.
ADNOC’s CEO and COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber has used his
chairmanship of the renewable energy company Masdar
to deliver investments, partnerships, and capabilities to micro and
small states including the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Armenia,
Uzbekistan, Seychelles, Mauritania and Bahamas. (The UAE’s successful
outreach has even resulted in Tonga establishing an embassy in Abu
Dhabi, which for a population of 107,000 is illustrative of the UAE’s
ability to curry favour and win votes across the international stage.)
The augmentation of climate action to aid and development has
recently been seen in Yemen where the UAE has constructed renewable
energy projects to aid its proxy the STC (the separatist Southern
Transitional Council) providing it with a sustainable ability to
generate energy and avoid dependence upon the UAE for support.
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