Sultan Al Jaber

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, (سلطان أحمد الجابر; born August 31, 1973) is an Emirati politician who is the minister of industry and advanced technology of the United Arab Emirates, head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and chairman of Masdar.

Al Jaber is the UAE's special envoy for climate change, and the president-designate of the 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.

A native of the UAE, 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 ADNOC.

Al Jaber was the founding CEO of Masdar, beginning in 2006, and was appointed 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.

Al Jaber began his career as an engineer at ADNOC.

He has previously been chairman of the board for the Abu Dhabi Ports, from 2009 until 2019, Abu Dhabi Media, and Sky News Arabia.

In January of 2023, Al Jaber was named president of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Prior to the climate summit, Al Jaber dismissed calls that a fossil fuel phase-out is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, claiming it would harm economic development and that there was "no science" behind the proposal during a live climate event and discussion with Mary Robinson.

Climate advocacy groups expressed concern about his comments, with Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare describing it as "verging on climate denial."

During the summit, Al Jaber defended himself, stating that his word had been misrepresented.

On 27 November 2023, the Centre for Climate Reporting and BBC News reported that, based on leaked documents, the UAE had been in violation of the UNFCCC's code of conduct by planning to use COP28 to pitch oil and gas deals to foreign governments.

Al Jaber denied reports that UAE wanted to seek oil deals in summit, calling the allegations false and an attempt to undermine work of the COP28 presidency.

In 2009, Al Jaber was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to his Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC).

On 12 March 2013, Al Jaber was named minister of state and joined the United Arab Emirates Council of Ministers.

He was appointed as the CEO of the company on 15 February 2016.

Since that time Al Jaber has publicly listed several ADNOC businesses, while also attracting some US$26 billion in international investment from companies such as BlackRock, Eni, and KKR.

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 US$150 billion in expanding its oil and gas production while only setting aside US$15 billion for low-carbon expansion over a longer period.

Al Jaber has tried to position 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.

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.

in 2017.

In February 2019 Al Jaber signed a US$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 US$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.

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.