Saudi Oil Scientists and Climate Reports

Prof Julia Steinberger met Mustafa Babiker at breakfast. He works for Saudi Aramco, a big oil company. Aramco causes a lot of carbon emissions. Julia asked if this was a conflict of interest. Mustafa said he filled out a form about it. Julia thought this answer was not good. Many authors for climate reports work with Saudi Aramco. An investigation found that at least a dozen authors are linked to this company. This raises questions about how the reports are made. The IPCC is the group that writes these reports. They help countries with climate policies. Some experts say the conflict of interest rules are not good enough.

On her first day as an expert author for climate reports, Prof Julia Steinberger met Mustafa Babiker at breakfast. He works for Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of Saudi Arabia. This company is responsible for a large amount of carbon emissions. Julia asked Mustafa if this was a conflict of interest. He replied that he had declared this on a form. Julia did not think this was a good answer. An investigation found that many authors for the IPCC are linked to Saudi Aramco. At least a dozen authors have connections to this oil company. This raises concerns about how the IPCC reports are produced. The IPCC is important for climate science and helps countries with climate action. Some experts believe the conflict of interest policy needs to be improved.

Prof Julia Steinberger began her role as an expert author on climate reports by meeting Mustafa Babiker at breakfast. Babiker works for Saudi Aramco, the state oil company of Saudi Arabia, which has caused more carbon emissions than any other company in history. When Julia asked him if this was a conflict of interest, he claimed he had declared his relationship on the IPCC’s conflict of interest form. Julia felt this was not a satisfactory answer. An investigation revealed that at least a dozen authors linked to Saudi Aramco are involved in the IPCC’s climate reports. This raises serious questions about the influence of Saudi Arabia on the IPCC’s work. The IPCC is the leading authority on climate science and its reports guide global climate negotiations. Experts have criticized the IPCC’s conflict of interest policy, saying it is not adequate. They argue that the presence of so many authors from Saudi institutions could affect the integrity of the reports.