Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02) and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) led their colleagues in a letter to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry out of concern with the appointment of the chief executive of one of the world’s largest oil companies as president of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference.
“We are writing to urge you to push the United Arab Emirates to withdraw the appointment of Sultan Al Jaber, head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as President-designate of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties 28 (COP 28),” the members said in their letter. “To help ensure that COP 28 is a serious and productive climate summit, we believe the United States should urge the United Arab Emirates to name a different lead for COP 28 or, at a minimum, seek assurances that it will promote an ambitious COP 28 aligned with the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings and take concrete steps to demonstrate domestic and regional leadership toward this end.”
In addition to Representative Huffman and Senator Whitehouse, the letter was cosigned by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representatives Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Sean Casten (IL-06), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Mike Levin (CA-49), Grace Meng (NY-06) Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Janice Schakowsky (IL-09), Adam Schiff (CA-30), Dina Titus (NV-01), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12).
The full letter can be found here.
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