Welcome to COP28, the U.N. Climate Conference Hosted by an Oil Giant

Dubai, a desert city known for private jets, giant yachts and other symbols of carbon-heavy high living, is an awkward location for a conference on climate change. It’s hardly a surprise that the man in charge also runs the national oil company. 

Hosting the United Nations’ annual climate confab—known as COP28—is the latest step in the United Arab Emirates’ bid to establish itself as a global power broker. The gambit is drawing attention to the country’s Jekyll-and-Hyde energy strategy. 

The U.A.E. is preparing to increase production of the oil and gas that made it rich, despite calls for it to cut fossil fuel use by the thousands of attendees descending on the city for the meeting that begins Thursday. The country is also pitching itself as a champion of renewable energy. 

It says there’s no contradiction. The world will need oil and gas for decades, and the U.A.E. says its fuels are the greenest around. It says it uses renewable energy to power some of its oil-and-gas production and is investing in carbon-capture technology.