Gore rails against COP28 president: Don't "try to mansplain" climate activist Robinson
Gore rails against COP28 president: Don't "try to mansplain" climate activist Robinson
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Former Vice President Al Gore railed against COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber on Tuesday after a leaked video showed the UAE climate envoy telling former Republic of Ireland President Mary Robinson there's "no science" behind the push to phase out fossil fuels.
What he's saying: "Do not ever try to mansplain to Mary Robinson — it doesn't work," Gore said at an Axios event on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai.
Gore called Al-Jaber, who is also the CEO of state oil firm ADNOC, a "very nice ... and very smart" person, but criticized the UAE's decision to name him the leader of COP28.
"I just think [the decision is] disrespectful of the world public to undermine the trust that people ought to be able to have in the integrity of this process," he said.
Gore added that he finds it "abusive of public trust" that "the person in charge of organizing this entire exercise in a way that assists the global community in safeguarding humanity's future by reducing the spewing of all this heat-trapping gas into the sky would be the same person who is assiduously preparing one of the most aggressive expansions of more and more fossil fuel production."
The big picture: Al-Jaber has drawn criticism — including from Gore — since being named the leader of the COP28 talks.
But that criticism was amplified earlier this week after The Guardianpublished a leaked video of al-Jaber making the comments to Robinson, a long-time climate activist, at the SHE Changes Climate online event.
Joyce Kimutai, the principal meteorologist and climate scientist at the Kenya Meteorology Department, referred to the controversy and addressed political leaders' lack of action more generally during a separate interview at Tuesday's Axios event in Dubai.
"I wish when they say they understood the science, they meant it," Kimutai told Axios. "To me, there's been more talk than action," she said.
"[I]t's just time that we phase out fossil fuels," she added. "That is my honest opinion as a scientist. It may not be politically correct, but I don't think we need political correctness now because people are really, really suffering."
Al-Jaber said at a press conference this week that he has "incredible respect for Mary Robinson and have a great deal of respect for everything she has been able to accomplish and achieve over the years."
"In fact, I was very honored to receive her invitation to participate and speak in a discussion around climate and gender," he added.
Zoom in: Speaking to Axios, Gore also provided more details on his call to reform the COP process.
He explained that the consensus-based approach gives outsized influence to major oil and gas-producing countries that favor a slower transition to renewables. He specifically pointed to Saudi Arabia, which has a long history of objecting to more aggressive COP decisions.
What to watch: Gore said he plans to make a push for changes, which would involve altering the COP rules governing how these meetings are run.
"I'm hoping [at the end of COP28] there is enough outrage around the world at the obscene structure" of the conference's decision-making process "with the reported use of the preparatory meetings to sell more oil and gas," Gore said.
He was referring to a BBC and Centre for Climate Reporting report, published last week, that alleged the UAE planned to discuss striking oil and gas deals with other governments at the climate summit. Al-Jaber has rejected the allegation as "false" and called it "an attempt to undermine" his work.