Authors Linked to Oil Entities Found in IPCC Report
Twenty authors on a key climate report have ties to Saudi Arabian energy institutions.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Environmental
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Journalists identified twenty lead authors of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report with professional ties to Saudi Arabian oil and gas entities. Critics have characterized the current conflict of interest review process as inadequate for such a critical panel.
Why it matters
The inclusion of these authors highlights a shift in Saudi climate diplomacy, which now emphasizes the promotion of carbon capture technologies over other methods. This has sparked concerns regarding potential biases in the development of global climate policy guidelines.
Working group III of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report includes 223 lead authors, with 20 individuals possessing ties to Saudi Arabian institutions. This includes five researchers from the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center.
The players
Dr. Mustafa Babiker
He is a coordinating lead author for the IPCC who has maintained a 20-year tenure at Saudi Aramco.
Saudi Aramco
It is a major Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company that employs several individuals currently serving as IPCC authors.
King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center
This is a Saudi energy research institution chaired by the country's energy minister that has five authors represented in the IPCC working group.
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change.
The details
Coordinating lead author Dr. Mustafa Babiker, a long-term Saudi Aramco employee, and Dr. Diego Armando Moya Pinta, who is also employed by Saudi Aramco while listed with an Imperial College London affiliation, are among those identified. Despite these connections, the IPCC conflict of interest committee reported finding no conflicts among the selected group.
Timeline
2026: IPCC Seventh Assessment Report authorship and publication cycle.
The Big Picture
This report challenges the efficacy of the IPCC conflict of interest policies, which are intended to maintain the scientific integrity of global climate assessments. The findings suggest a potential paradigm shift where industry-linked research priorities begin to intersect with traditionally academic reporting.
The involvement of energy-linked authors could shift the focus of climate reports toward specific technologies like carbon capture, impacting global investment strategies. This influences which climate solutions gain international policy support and, consequently, future public funding and development.
The takeaway
Transparency in scientific reporting remains vital to public trust in international climate agreements. Readers should track how authorship composition impacts the final policy recommendations released in the upcoming assessment cycle.
Further reading
Learn more about climate policy developments by exploring the Environmental section.
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