Op-ed: Oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber is the ideal person to lead the UN climate conference this year

Op-ed: Oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber is the ideal person to lead the UN climate conference this year

ABU DHABI -- If the world gets lucky, this could be the year fossil fuel producers and climate activists bury their hatchets and join hands to reduce emissions and ensure our planet's future. If that sounds hopelessly Utopian, take that up with the leaders of this resource-rich, renewables-generating Middle Eastern monarchy. The United Arab Emirates is determined to inject specificity, urgency, and pragmatism into a process that often has lacked all three: the 28th convening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP 28, which the UAE will host from November 30 to December 12. To kick off 2023, the oil and gas and climate communities gathered this weekend for the , launching the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. After decades of mutual mistrust, there is a growing recognition they can't live without each other. Thank Russian President Vladimir Putin's , and his ongoing weaponization of energy, for injecting a new dose of hard-headed reality into climate conversations. It's seldom been so clear that energy security and cleaner energy are indivisible. The guiding principle is " ," defined as the need to balance energy reliability, affordability, and sustainability. What's contributing to this new pragmatism is a recognition by