Indigenous Nations and Environmental Advocates Denounce Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s Greenwashing at COP28

Indigenous nations impacted by pollution in the tar sands counter the Government of Alberta’s COP28 narrative of being a “clean energy leader”

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Today, members from Indigenous communities downstream of the tar sands and environmental advocates held a demonstration in response to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s presence at COP28.

“Time and time again we have been told to trust that the Alberta Government and that government and industry have our best interests in mind,” shares Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action and member of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. “Not only do they continually fail to protect our lands and honour our rights, but they actively put all of the people of Alberta at risk by undermining a just and equitable transition within our province. It’s always profits before people in the tar sands and it’s our communities that pay the ultimate price.”

This year in the tar sands region, a major toxic tailings leak, which was covered up for nine months, made international headlines. However, the Alberta Energy Regulator absolved itself of any responsibility and conducted an ‘independent’ inquiry which reduced the concerns being raised to a communications issue rather than a failure to uphold their duty to Indigenous peoples.

“The Government of Alberta is on a greenwashing tour at COP28. Premier Smith is attending COP28 to sing the praises of the fossil fuel industry. Yet she continues to turn a blind eye to the active seepage of toxic tailings into Indigenous communities’ lands and waters, including the recent Imperial Oil spill and cover-up,” said Aliénor Rougeot, Climate and Energy Program Manager at Environmental Defence. |Read more https://environmentaldefence.ca/2023/12/05/indigenous-nations-and-environmental-advocates-denounce-alberta-premier-danielle-smiths-greenwashing-at-cop28/ | environmentaldefence.ca/2023/1…

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Fossils ‘Much Better at Capturing Politicians’ than Emissions, Gore Says, as Pressure Mounts on COP28 President

Fort McMurray, Alberta

Don’t trust the oil and gas industry to report its actual carbon pollution, said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who added that the man leading the COP28 climate talks in Dubai this week and next runs one of the “dirtiest” oil companies out there.

“They’re much better at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions,” Gore told The Associated Press in a sit-down interview.

The Nobel Prize-winning climate activist, author, filmmaker, and Climate Reality Project founder blasted COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who is also CEO of the national oil company of the host nation, United Arab Emirates. Gore said Al Jaber’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is “one of the largest and one of the dirtiest, by many measures, oil companies in the world.”

It’s also laying plans to increase oil drilling 42% by 2030, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported December 1, just a day before the COP28 secretariat trumpeted a voluntary methane reduction deal that brought together 50 of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, including ADNOC.

In previous comments, AP writes, Al Jaber’s colleagues have dismissed media coverage detailing ADNOC’s expansion plans. The company in 2019 announced plans to expand its output to five million barrels per day.

In an hour-long, data-heavy presentation during the COP, Gore said: “The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company still claims to have no emissions from methane or anything else from the transport of oil and gas. Well, actually, they do. We can see them from space.”

“Why can we see the leakage from space if there are no leakages? Well, these were self-reported emissions,” Gore said. Then showing his data: “And this is the actual emissions. And these are the emissions last year, here.”

In his interview with AP, Gore repeatedly took aim at Al Jaber’s controversial appointment by the UAE to chair the COP. As summit host, the local government chooses the president whose duty it is to guide the talks to the most ambitious outcome negotiators can achieve.

“He’s a nice guy. He’s a smart guy. I’ve known him for years. But he has a direct conflict of interest,” Gore said. “And this isn’t some kind of nitpicking complaint. This goes to the heart of whether or not the world is going to have the ability to make intelligent decisions about humanity’s future.”

Gore added that Al Jaber’s “main job is the head of the oil company. And honestly, when I look at the massive expansion plan that they have to increase their production of oil, 50%, increase their production of gas” after the climate conference ends, he asked, “do you take us for his fools?” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/fossils-much-better-at-capturing-politicians-than-emissions-gore-says-as-pressure-mounts-on-cop28-president/ | theenergymix.com/fossils-much-…

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#greenwashing #methane #emissions