PARIS: The Emirati state oil firm was able to read emails from organisers of the COP28 climate summit, The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday (Jun 7), in a fresh embarrassment for the gathering's hosts.
The British newspaper reported that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), whose CEO Sultan Al Jaber is president of the November summit, was consulted on how to respond to journalists' requests.
The United Arab Emirates drew strong criticism for appointing Jaber to chair the UN summit where delegates will discuss how to rein in deadly climate change, including the role of fossil fuel carbon emissions in driving global warming.
US and EU lawmakers as well as campaigners have called on Al Jaber to step down from the role, citing a conflict of interest.
"Expert technical analysis showed the (COP28) office shared email servers with Adnoc," The Guardian reported.
It said it detected the link after it requested comment from the COP28 office in mid-May, without mentioning Adnoc, about criticism of Al Jaber, and received a reply marked "Adnoc classification: internal".
The newspaper said the COP28 organisers later acknowledged that it had consulted the oil company about the email.
The COP28 office had earlier claimed that it used separate computer servers from Adnoc, but the newspaper said "expert technical analysis" of the emails showed that the company had sent and received emails from the COP28 office.
Al Jaber's aides and the UN's climate body, the UNFCCC, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.