From BBC
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The UK government has defended the United Arab Emirates’ appointment of oil executive Sultan al-Jaber as head of this year’s UN COP28 climate summit.
It comes after more than 130 lawmakers from the US and EU wrote to the UN calling for his removal.
The UN has long been criticised for the involvement of the fossil fuel industry in the COP climate summits.
On Thursday, Minister for Net Zero Graham Stuart said Jaber was “an outstanding individual”.
Every year the host country for the global climate summit, known as COP, nominates a president. As well as organising the event they provide political leadership, heading up critical negotiations on climate action in the run up to, and during, the conference.
This year the hosts, the UAE, nominated Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, the head of the state oil company, as president of the summit, which starts in Dubai in November.
Campaigners have been growing increasingly vocal against this decision, and this week 133 lawmakers from the EU and US joined the call for his removal.
In a joint letter addressed to the United Nations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden, the lawmakers expressed their “profound concern” that the fossil fuel industry was allowed to exert influence on the talks.
But Mr Stuart, during a news conference on Thursday, defended the decision of the UAE.
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