The world's top management consultancy McKinsey & Company is using its position as a key advisor to the UN's COP28 climate talks to push the interests of its big oil and gas clients, undermining efforts to end the use of the fossil fuels driving global warming, according to multiple sources and leaked documents.
Behind closed doors, the US-based firm has proposed future energy scenarios to the agenda setters of the summit that are at odds with the climate goals it publicly espouses, an AFP investigation has found.
An "energy transition narrative" drafted by the firm and obtained by AFP only reduces oil use by 50 percent by 2050, and calls for trillions in new oil and gas investment per year from now until then.
McKinsey—whose big oil clients range from America's ExxonMobil to Saudi Arabia's state-run Aramco—is one of several consultancies giving free advice to the United Arab Emirates as it hosts the critical negotiations, which start on November 30.
Controversially, the talks are being presided over by Sultan Al Jaber, head of the Emirati state oil firm ADNOC.
With scientists saying 2023 is certain to be the hottest year on record, and greenhouse gas emissions headed for unprecedented levels, McKinsey is "vocally and brazenly calling for lower levels of ambition on oil phase-out at the highest levels within the COP28 presidency," said a source who was in the room on confidential discussions with the summit hosts.
McKinsey responded insisting that "sustainability is a...
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