Oil giant led by COP28 boss to spend an ‘eyewatering' $1 billion a month on fossil fuels this decade, Global Witness says

Dubai will host the U.N. annual conference Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in advance of COP28. Sultan al-Jaber is the CEO of ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. ADNOC will have invested approximately $387 billion dollars in oil and natural gas. Dubai, July 3, 2023. High-rise buildings along Sheikh Zayed Road.

Global Witness analyzed ADNOC's projected oil and gas capital spending, exploration capital expenditure and operating expenditures for the period 2023-2050. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has not responded to an immediate request for comments on the analysis performed by Global Witness. The Paris Agreement aims at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and reducing the average global temperature increase to "well under" 2 degrees Celsius. ADNOC's spokesperson responded to CNBC by saying that the global population is growing, which is driving up energy demand. It is therefore important to consider, along with accelerating investments into renewables and low-carbon energy solutions, the least carbon-intensive sources of oil and natural gas, and to further reduce their intensity in order to facilitate a fair and equitable energy transition. According to the spokesperson, the data on upstream emissions for 2022 confirmed that the energy group is one of the lowest carbon-intensive producers in the world. The Russian state-owned company Gazprom, followed by ExxonMobil and Chevron (each spending $84 billion and $67 billion respectively) was expected to spend the largest amount on fossil fuel exploration and development projects up to 2030.