The British government has defended the appointment of oil executive Sultan al-Jaber by the United Arab Emirates as the head of this year's COP28 UN climate summit. This comes after more than 130 US and EU lawmakers wrote to the UN calling for his recall. The UN has long been criticized for involving the fossil fuel industry in COP climate summits. On Thursday, Net Zero Minister Graham Stuart said Jaber was an "exceptional person".

Each year, the host country for the global climate summit, known as the COP, nominates a president. In addition to organizing the event, they provide political leadership and lead critical negotiations on climate action before and during the conference. This year, the hosts, the United Arab Emirates, have nominated Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, head of the state oil company, as president of the summit, which will begin in November in Dubai. Activists have become increasingly vocal against the decision, and this week 133 lawmakers from the EU and the US joined the call for it to be revoked. In a joint letter to the United Nations, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden, the lawmakers expressed their "deep concern" that the fossil fuel industry had been allowed to influence the negotiations. But Mr Stuart defended the UAE's decision during a press conference on Thursday.

(Esme Stallard)