In the first and second diaries in this series, we analyzed three major disinformation narratives that the UAE has been using in the run-up to COP28: greenwashing, woke-washing, and fossil fuel solutionism. Now, we’ll explain two final themes within UAE propaganda: deflecting blame and suppressing dissent.
Deflecting Blame: Whataboutism and The Myth of Individual Responsibility
In response to climate advocates’ criticism that the UAE has a conflict of interest in running COP28 because it is so heavily invested in fossil fuels, pro-UAE content has attempted to redirect scrutiny onto other entities.
One method of deflection is whataboutism, a climate action delay tactic that involves making counter-accusations and redirecting the conversation to other issues rather than engaging with the original issue at hand. For example, Al Jaber has attempted to counteract concerns about COP28 being held in a petrostate by pointing fingers at previous COP hosts and reminding people that 17 out of the past 27 COPs “have been hosted in fossil fuel-producing nations.” The fact that this deeply concerning practice has occurred before does not justify its continuation. Furthermore, there is a difference between a nation that produces fossil fuels and one that's rich solely because of them and continues to be one of the biggest polluters in the world.
An op-ed in The Conversation by Uskudar University Professor of Philosophy Ibrahim Ozdemir also provides a clear example of whataboutism. Ozdemir argues that “many criticisms of the UAE’s presidency are unfounded” and tries to persuade readers that ADNOC’s plans to expand oil and gas production “must be viewed in a global context when discussing the COP28 presidency.” “Far larger fossil fuel growth plans than the UAE’s are being led by the U.S., Canada, Russia, Iran, China and Brazil,” he claims, obviously attempting to deflect blame onto these other nations.
All plans for fossil fuel expansion are incredibly harmful, to be sure, but two wrongs do not make a right. After all, if some countries are continuing to pollute, others should work even harder to reduce their emissions, since climate change is a global concern. Continuing to emit greenhouse gases just because others are doing so is akin to pursuing mutually assured destruction. Climate advocates are correct to strongly condemn the UAE’s plans in this crucial pre-COP period, regardless of other countries’ actions, since the UAE is the nation tasked with leading this year’s climate conference.
UAE spokespeople also deflect blame by using the fossil fuel industry tactic of shifting responsibility for addressing climate change from the industry to everyday individuals. For example, Ahmed Baharoon, executive director of the environmental science, information, and outreach sector at Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, argued, “There needs to be greater awareness among young people about the need to protect the planet for the survival of humanity. We all have a role to play in protecting our planet. Not just in the UAE or the UN, every person in every country has a duty.”
Similarly, Mariam Almeraikhi, Year of Sustainability’s strategic digital manager, stated, “By taking responsibility for our everyday actions, such as portioning food, reducing red-meat consumption, avoiding single-use plastics and switching to slow fashion, we are taking power into our own hands to affect climate action.”
Just like BP popularized the concept of the carbon footprint to blame individuals for its own wrongdoing, these quotes serve to divert attention away from the UAE’s choice to extensively invest in fossil fuels by encouraging scrutiny on individual people’s everyday activities. Of course, individual people finding ways to decrease their own consumption will have a positive environmental impact. However, solving the climate crisis requires a large-scale, systemic transformation away from fossil fuels, not just individual lifestyle changes here and there. Fossil fuel industry leaders are deeply afraid of such a societal transformation, which is why they constantly try to guilt-trip everyday people who have far less power than themselves.
Both whataboutism and the myth of individual responsibility are documented fossil fuel industry disinformation narratives, and the fact that the UAE is using these harmful delay tactics to mislead the public further proves that it is not running COP28 with the purest intentions.
Suppressing Dissent: Dismissing Valid Criticisms, Using Straw Man Arguments, and Restricting Media Coverage
Numerous climate advocates have expressed concerns about Al Jaber’s COP28 presidency. For example, Amnesty International’s Marta Schaaf stated, “Sultan al-Jaber cannot be an honest broker for climate talks when the company he leads is planning to cause more climate damage. It is obvious, despite Sultan al-Jaber’s denials, that his dual role is a glaring conflict of interest which will contribute to further climate disaster and unfolding human rights violations.”
Rather than engaging with these concerns sincerely, UAE sources have downplayed criticism of the petrostate hosting COP28 as mere “complaining.” Al Jaber himself has declared that we should all “fight climate change, not each other,” leading Kenyan climate activist Eric Njuguna to rightly accuse him of being “dismissive of valid and merited concerns brought forth by climate activists.”
Additionally, the COP28 president has made statements like “we must separate facts from fiction, reality from fantasy, and impact from ideology,” which is clearly meant to wrongly imply that climate advocates’ urgent calls to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels are fantastical and impractical. Al Jaber has also made passive-aggressive suggestions like “stop finger pointing” and “let’s leave our differences aside,” further demonstrating the way in which he is trying to brush legitimate concerns under the rug and use his position of power to try to invalidate the activists calling attention to his undeniable conflict of interest.
Like many fossil fuel interests, UAE spokespeople also use straw man arguments, intentionally misrepresenting climate advocates’ points so they can refute ridiculous, wildly inaccurate versions of their opponents’ assertions. For example, Al Jaber has said, “We cannot unplug the energy system of today before we build the new system of tomorrow. It is simply not practical or possible. We must meet the energy demands of today, while providing access to the 800 million people without energy.” In response, Chatham House’s Karim Elgendy pointed out the obvious: “No one is saying turn it off immediately. What they're saying is don't dig any more wells, don't expand capacity."
In its intense campaign to suppress dissent, the UAE even went as far as to release an official document discouraging “offensive” media stories during COP28 before backtracking, claiming that the memo was “an old guide,” and removing it from the UN climate agency website. According to Politico, the “‘Media Content Standards’... document called for journalists and media outlets to ‘refrain from publishing anything that could offend directly or indirectly the ruling regime of the State’ or that ‘could be offensive to the national unity and social cohesion.’” As Politico noted, these deleted guidelines are part of a wider climate of hostility toward the media in the UAE. The US State Department has found that the UAE has established “serious restrictions on free expression and media, including censorship and enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws,” and has “targeted activists, journalists, politicians, and dissidents in systematic hacking campaigns.”
The UAE is not engaging directly with activists’ critiques because it has no ground to stand on. The facts clearly point to the UAE’s huge dependence on fossil fuels and clear conflict of interest in hosting COP28, so the petrostate has resorted to disingenuously mischaracterizing criticisms and clamping down on media coverage. Al Jaber’s and the UAE’s vested economic interests in the fossil fuel industry inherently contradict the goal of vital international climate negotiations, and climate advocates must be empowered to speak out against this appalling hypocrisy.
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These disinformation narratives, and likely many others to come, are meant to obscure the plain and simple truth: fossil fuels are causing the climate emergency, and we urgently need an ambitious plan to phase them out and transition to renewable energy as quickly as possible — while always centering climate justice.
The UAE’s abhorrent attempts to mislead the public and delay climate action illustrate the ongoing threat of climate disinformation, and governments must take aggressive action now to stop the spread of climate disinformation to ensure a rapid and just transition to renewable energy.