Sultan Al Jaber

Sultan Al Jaber
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, (born August 31, 1973) is the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates, managing director and group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC Group), and chairman of Masdar.
He is the United Arab Emirates' special envoy for climate change, and the President-Designate of the upcoming COP28 climate talks. His appointment as head of the COP28 climate talks was strongly criticized by environmentalists due to his track record at ADNOC. As head of ADNOC, Al Jaber has overseen a substantial expansion of gas and oil production at the same time that fossil fuel industries are under pressure to reduce output in order to mitigate climate change.
Early life and education
A native of the United Arab Emirates, Al Jaber was born on 31 August 1973 in Umm Al Quwain, UAE. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California, a PhD in business and economics from Coventry University, and an MBA from the California State University at Los Angeles. His education in the United States was financed by a scholarship provided by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Business career
Masdar
Al Jaber was the founding CEO of Masdar, beginning in 2006, and was appointed the chairman in March 2014. Under his leadership Masdar expanded its investment in renewable energy to diversify the country's dependency on oil and gain diplomatic clout. By end of 2022, Masdar had invested in 40 countries. Under his chairmanship Masdar underwent a restructuring that brought in TAQA, ADNOC and Mubadala as shareholders in 2022.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
Al Jaber began his career as an engineer at ADNOC. He was appointed as the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on 15 February 2016. Since then Al Jaber has publicly listed several ADNOC businesses, while also attracting some $26 billion in international investment from companies such as BlackRock, Eni, and KKR.
In February 2019 Al Jaber signed a $4 billion agreement with BlackRock and KKR to invest in the development of midstream oil pipeline infrastructure. A consortium of six companies signed an agreement in July 2020 to invest $20.7 billion in ADNOC infrastructure assets. It was the single-largest energy infrastructure investment ever in the Middle East, and the largest in the world for 2020 at the time. Al Jaber led the first IPO of an ADNOC business, ADNOC Distribution (ADNOCDIS:UH) in 2017.
As head of ADNOC, Al Jaber has sought to increase ADNOC's output of crude oil from 3 million barrels of oil a day in 2016 to 5 million by 2030. The New York Times noted that ADNOC was one of few oil companies still making large investments in raising production in 2021. Financial Times wrote that Al Jaber's attempts to increase oil output was "particularly stark" given that he holds the role of climate tsar in the UAE and given that fossil fuel industries are under pressure to reduce output in order to mitigate climate change. Financial Times wrote in 2023 that ADNOC was set to invest $150 billion in expanding its oil and gas production while only setting aside $15 billion for low-carbon expansion over a longer period.
Al Jaber has positioned himself as an environmental advocate. Under Al Jaber, ADNOC has invested in carbon capture and green hydrogen projects, while also committing to power its operations with renewable energy sources. However, critics say these investments pale in comparison to Al Jaber's expansion of gas and oil production and are part of a greenwashing campaign. Stanley Reed, an energy journalist for the New York Times, commented that these announcements were in part "image-burnishing", and that while Abu Dhabi's government sought to diversify its economy, it also aimed to maintain a significant future market for its oil reserves.
Board positions
Al Jaber is the ADNOC group chief executive, and a member of the Abu Dhabi Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs. He is chairman of the Emirates Development Bank, and the board of trustees of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. He has previously been chairman of the board for the Abu Dhabi Ports, from 2009 until 2019, the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC), and Sky News Arabia.
COP28 Presidency
In January of 2023, Al Jaber was named president of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
United Arab Emirates government minister
On 12 March 2013, Al Jaber was named Minister of State and joined the United Arab Emirates Council of Ministers. He held the position until July 2020, when he was appointed as Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology. In November of the same year, he was appointed as the special envoy for climate change to represent the UAE in all international forums on this issue.
Energy and climate change
In 2009, Al Jaber was appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to his Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC). In the same year, as CEO of Masdar, he helped bring the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to the UAE. Al Jaber has advocated for a global approach to addressing climate change at international forums such as the 2022 Munich Security Conference. He has also emphasized the key role national hydrocarbon producers should play in the energy transition, arguing that the least carbon-intensive barrels will be required for the foreseeable future.
During Al Jaber's tenure as special climate envoy to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) for the UAE, the organization chose the UAE as the host for the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in 2023. Amnesty International reacted to ADNOC Drilling's plan to expand fossil fuel production and its record profits, comparing them to the appointment of the company's chief executive Sultan al-Jaber as the chair of COP28 climate talks in 2023. Amnesty expressed concerns that the oil company was trying to hijack the conference to serve wider fossil fuel interests, and that the climate conference would discuss ways to deal with climate change while the company he leads causes major harm to the climate with its waste and spills from oil and gas, radioactive material, salts and toxic chemicals and the release of greenhouse gas. US Senator Ed Markey opposed the decision to host the upcoming COP28 global climate conference in the UAE and expressed doubts about the UAE’s "sincerity" towards commitment for climate action. Citing Al Jaber's claim that his leadership role will allow him to push the industry to decarbonize, Ed Markey said he doubted if such commitments will be maintained after the conference. Days after Ed Markey's statement, more than 130 US lawmakers and members of the European Parliament called for the removal Sultan Al Jaber as the president-designate of the COP28 climate summit.
On 7 June 2023 it was revealed that The United Arab Emirates’ state oil company ADNOC, Al Jaber is the head of, was able to read emails to and from the Cop28 climate summit office and was consulted on how to respond to media. French MEP Manon Aubry described the case as an "absolute scandal" comparing it to "having a tobacco multinational overseeing the internal work of the World Health Organization".
2023 greenwashing accusations
In May 2023, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Al Jaber had been accused of attempting to greenwash his image, by members of his team making edits to Wikipedia to portray him favorably as an advocate for green energy, while downplaying his involvement in the fossil fuel industry. Some of these edits included adding a quote that described Al Jaber as an ally to the climate movement and suggesting that editors remove reference to a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline deal he signed in 2019. A Wikipedia user, who disclosed they were being paid by ADNOC, suggested changing the page to say that Al Jaber had simply attracted “international investment” in ADNOC, instead of mentioning the specific agreement with US investment giants BlackRock and KKR for the development of oil pipeline infrastructure. A member of the COP28 team was also reported to have been editing Wikipedia articles, despite having been "strongly discouraged" from doing so by a Wikipedia administrator. The COP28 team did not respond to questions by CNN regarding the allegations.
A further Guardian investigation revealed in June 2023 that a large number of fake Twitter and Medium accounts, using stock or AI-generated profile images, have been either promoting and defending the hosting of the UN climate summit by the United Arab Emirates, including reposting UAE government tweets and trying to rebut criticism of Al Jaber's presidency.
In August 2023, a report based on leaked documents revealed a list prepared on “touchy and sensitive issues” concerning the UAE. It included the government-approved “strategic messages” to be used as a reply to questions from the media. The questions on Sultan Al Jaber’s presidency were to be answered saying, “Dr Sultan’s full circle career [in energy, climate and diplomacy] gives him the expertise needed to constructively engage, disrupt, and unite the very sectors needed to achieve meaningful action.” Meanwhile, any talk on ADNOC’s failure in disclosing its emissions were to be defended saying, “ADNOC is currently conducting necessary studies.” The topics of issues mentioned in the list covered both UAE’s climate issues and human rights records, including human trafficking and the Yemeni Civil War.
Later in the same months, it was revealed that under Al Jaber's leadership, ADNOC's methane leak target had been set to levels considerably higher than those the company had previously reported to the UN. A study by Harvard University claims that the high levels of methane emissions suggest deliberate venting rather than leaks.
Honors
In 2013 Al Jaber was appointed honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In that year he also received Mauritania's Medal of the National Order of Merit. In 2019, he received the International Lifetime Achievement Award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India.
Personal life
Sultan Al Jaber is married and has four children.
References
External links
1973 births
Living people
Emirati Muslims
University of Southern California alumni
Alumni of Coventry University
California State University, Los Angeles alumni
Emirati chief executives
Chief executives in the energy industry
Industry ministers of the United Arab Emirates