In March, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry co-hosted an exclusive dinner in D.C. for a top figure in the upcoming United Nations climate talks.
Administration officials, the heads of leading environmental organizations, business representatives and select journalists were among those invited to dine at Cafe Milano with Sultan al-Jaber, a powerful energy executive from the United Arab Emirates.
Al-Jaber, who will serve as leader of the talks in the UAE’s gleaming coastal city of Dubai, is also CEO of the country’s state-run oil company — a dual role that has earned him attacks from climate activists and at least one of the dinner’s attendees.
The gathering, first reported by POLITICO’s E&E News, underscores the Biden administration’s recognition of the political challenges it will confront at the summit, where al-Jaber is already facing criticism for reaping fossil fuel profits while leading talks on the urgency of cutting greenhouse gas pollution. Kerry, who has defended al-Jaber as a “terrific choice” to preside over the summit, used the dinner to introduce the oil chief to people with an influential role in the U.S. climate debate.
People invited to attend the March dinner included two members of Congress, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), as well as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Financial Times U.S. national editor Edward Luce, according to a guest list obtained by E&E News. All four confirmed, either directly or through representatives, that they attended.
Curtis and Whitehouse are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their ideas about what it will take to solve the climate crisis, representing the divide that Kerry and others might hope to bridge in the upcoming talks.
Curtis leads the 80-member House Conservative Climate Caucus and accepts the reality of human-made climate change — as well as the need to cut greenhouse gases — but is protective of fossil fuels. Whitehouse chairs the Senate Budget Committee, is a longtime climate hawk and would like to see fossil fuels abolished.
They’ve also expressed sharply different opinions about the dinner’s guest of honor. Whitehouse is one of 133 lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe who have called for ousting al-Jaber as the climate summit’s president-designate, saying his role as a top oil and gas executive “risks undermining the negotiations” about a proposed phase-out of fossil fuels.
Curtis, in contrast, praised al-Jaber’s appointment as “a wonderful opportunity to highlight the role of fossil fuels in reducing emissions.”
“Every energy expert in the world will tell you we are using fossil fuels in 2050, and it’s not realistic to have a conversation about zero fossil fuels,” he added.
John Curtis is looking to secure a Republican presence at the next round of talks.
