"UN climate summit host UAE failed to report methane emissions to UN"

The United Arab Emirates, which will run the crucial Cop28 UN climate summit in December, has failed to report its emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane to the UN for almost a decade, the Guardian can reveal.

Its state oil company, Adnoc, whose chief executive, Sultan Al Jaber, controversially will preside over the climate summit, has also set itself a methane leak target far higher than the level it claims it has already reached...

Critics say the revelations, and the UAE’s huge planned expansion of oil and gas production against scientific advice, show the “opposite of leadership” and undermine Al Jaber’s credibility...

The 0.15% methane target is also higher than the level achieved in 2019 by Qatar (0.06%) and Saudi Arabia (0.14%), according to a recently published satellite analysis by scientists at Harvard University in the US.

The study estimated the UAE’s methane leaks in 2019 at 3.3% and said “these high values [in UAE and other nations] reflect leaky infrastructure combined with deliberate venting or incomplete flaring of gas”.

Adnoc reported its total methane emissions from upstream oil and gas operations in 2021 as being 38,000 tonnes. This represents 3% of the UAE’s total methane emissions from such operations, according to data from the International Energy Agency. This appears to contrast with data showing that Adnoc is responsible for 62% of all upstream oil and gas in the UAE...

A spokesperson for Adnoc said: “Our 2022 upstream [scope 1 and 2] emissions data confirmed Adnoc as one of the least carbon-intensive producers in the world. Collaboration and innovation will be key to addressing scope 3 emissions and we are working with our customers to help them transition to new energies. In Adnoc, we aim to achieve zero methane emissions by 2030.”...