Thread by @LeoHickman

We often hear tales about the disrupting/delaying/diluting tactics of "The Saudis" at UN climate change meetings.

It was the same last week at the IPCC meeting in S Korea when the #SR15 special report was finally approved by all the world's govts.

Here's my take...

++THREAD++

Here's what AFP reported last Friday: "Oil giant Saudi Arabia is seeking to block adoption of a key UN climate change report unless a passage highlighting the inadequacy of national carbon-cutting pledges is removed or altered, multiple sources told AFP"

webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache…

And here's AFP's follow-up story, once the report was approved on Sat: "The Saudis had objected to the inclusion of a passage emphasising the need for sharp reductions in the use of fossil fuels - Saudi Arabia's main export"...

webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache…

...AFP added: "Saudi Arabia withdrew its blockage of the passage when their objection was about to be formally recorded in a footnote," said a participant in the meeting.

"It was a game of chicken, and the Saudi's blinked first."

But the media is barred by the IPCC from reporting inside the plenary. (The reasons why would required another long thread.) That's why AFP, and other outlets, are forced to rely on "sources" inside the room to gauge how the negotiations are going.

However...

...an organisation called the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is allowed inside to record what's going on. It provides a *vital* service - observing everything, then writing up a summary.

Crucially (as you will soon see), it is allowed to take photos.

The IISD has just published its summary of last week's IPCC meeting.

And it gives a unique insight into the ways that the Saudis (and others) tried to influence the wording of the final Summary for Policy Makers (SPM).

eg search for "Saudi" in this PDF

enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/e…

Here's a neat summary from the end of that PDF...

(My own "sources" tell me that the Saudis, aided by the likes of Egypt and Zimbabwe, threatened to tear the whole thing down on Friday night. But failed.)

So, who are "The Saudis"? Well, thanks in part to IISD, we know exactly who they are.

First, let's meet Ayman Shasly. He's heads their IPCC delegation.

But, as his profile page shows, he's also one of the Saudi's senior negotiators to the UNFCCC.

ksa-climate.com/ayman-shasly

It's not uncommon for countries to send the same delegates to both the IPCC and UNFCCC - saves money and their knowledge/expertise can cut across both.

But Shasly also wears another vital hat - he's currently on the board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

greenclimate.fund/boardroom/boar…

The GCF plays a v important role within the dynamics of the UN climate negotiations and Paris Agreement as it decides upon where large tranches of the donated climate finance is spent.

Last year, Carbon Brief mapped how and where that money is spent.

carbonbrief.org/mapped-where-m…

But Shasly also has another interesting item on his CV - one which might better explain why the Saudis have gained a reputation for trying to disrupt IPCC meetings.

He once worked for Saudi Aramco...

aramcoexpats.com/articles/al-fa…

Saudi Aramco is one of the world's largest oil and gas company.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg News described it as the world's most profitable company.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

"So what?" you might say fairly. "He no longer works for them."

Perhaps. But it's worth looking at the rest of the Saudi's IPCC delegation.

So let's go back to the vital service that the IISD provides by taking its camera into the plenaries...

I was not allowed into this year's IPCC meeting because of the media ban.

But back in 2014, at two of the AR5 plenaries, I was an official observer to the IPCC.

Hey, look, here's me sitting just behind the Saudis (and Shasly) at the AR5 WG3 plenary in 2014 in Berlin!

But pan out from Shasly and look at some of his colleagues.

Take, for example, the man in the far top left looking straight to camera.

That's Hamid Al Sadoon.

He also wears a number of hats.

Here he is at the UNFCCC talks in Bonn in 2014...

But let's take a look at his LinkedIn page.

Since 2012, he has been working for Saudi Aramco as a policies analyst.

linkedin.com/in/hamid-al-sa…

Let's take one more example. This time from the IPCC meeting last week in South Korea.

Here's Mona H. Al-Attas from the Saudi delegation...

enb.iisd.org/climate/ipcc48/

She is also a member of the Saudi's UNFCCC delegation.

This image of her is taken from the official website of the Saudi delegation ->

ksa-climate.com/our-delegates

And her LinkedIn page says she has worked for Saudi Aramco for 21 years as an analyst.

linkedin.com/in/mona-al-att…

OK, just one final person, but perhaps the most important...

Khalid Abuleif has been the Saudi's chief climate negotiator since 2012. He's an adviser to the Saudi minister of energy, industry and mineral resources.

ksa-climate.com/khalid-abuleif

But he's also long played a role at the IPCC. Since 1990, in fact.

So it's interesting to see, buried in obscure IPCC documents, he gives a Saudi Aramco email address...

ipcc.ch/meetings/burea…

None of this should be that surprising, really.

Saudi Arabia's economy is currently heavily reliant on oil&gas exports. And the IPCC has repeatedly shown that the world need to wean itself off fossil fuels ASAP if it is to keep "well below" 2C.

You can see Saudi's problem.

But I think it's important - given the lack of transparency and media access at IPCC plenaries - that more context is provided about how and why "The Saudis" approach these meetings in the way they do.

It's unfair, perhaps, to single them out, but they do have a "reputation".

Finally, I can't end without highlighting my favourite IISD picture of Shasly...

Taking a selfie in 2014 with then vice-chair Hoesung Lee, who now chairs the IPCC.

enb.iisd.org/climate/ipcc40…

++END THREAD++

A day after I posted this thread, this happens...

https://twitter.com/Saudi_Aramco/status/1050745681349107713?s=19