Cop28 hosted by a petrostate? Ridiculous, says Greta Thunberg. But it also offers a glimmer of hope

Editorial: Holding the climate change summit in the United Arab Emirates should be seen as a positive, a reminder that net zero is no longer the sole concern of the West – and that catastrophe can still be averted in the age of ‘global boiling'

World on fire: July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded (AP)

No one pretends that the oil-rich United Arab Emirates is the most obvious choice for a global summit on climate change. Nor, at least at first glance, is Sultan al-Jaber, head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the first name that springs to mind when contemplating the leadership the world needs to make Cop28 a success.

Greta Thunberg, who needs no encouragement to highlight hypocrisy, calls it “completely ridiculous”. As if to prove her point, there have, in recent days, been some disturbing reports about the host country’s fossil fuel interests taking advantage of the event to make side deals on oil sales with African nations.

Then there is the news that the King, Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary David Cameron are taking separate private jets to the conference.