All the influence UAE can buy? Oil money and the growing clout of UN climate summit hosts

In fact, it's ADNOC's boss, Prince Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber,who's official chair of the COP28 summit. In fairness to the UAE, these annual gatherings rotate between regions and it just happened to be the Middle East's turn. 

One year after Qatar's hosting of the World Cup sparked accusations of sportswashing, we ask how green Dubai will seem when the gavel comes down on a crucial gathering for carbon cutting pledges and climate finance for developing nations. 

More broadly, what to make of a tiny federation of emirates positioned as a supersized oil giant and trade hub, which hosts US military bases and sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which plows money into Premier league champions Manchester City and the brutal RSF militias in Sudan's civil war?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.

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