by The president of the COP28 climate summit, Sultan Al Jaber, recently claimed that there is “no science” that says phasing out fossil fuels is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in comments that alarmed climate scientists and advocates.
The role of fossil fuels in the future is one of the most contentious issues countries are grappling with at the COP28 climate summit. While some are pushing for a “step down,” others want the weaker language to be “step down.” Scientific reports have shown that fossil fuels must be reduced rapidly to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees – the target of the Paris climate agreement, and a threshold above which scientists warn that it will be more difficult for people and ecosystems to adapt .
Al Jaber made the remarks during a She Changes Climate panel event on November 21, which emerged on Sunday in a story published by the Guardian, and in a video reviewed by CNN. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former chairman of the Elders Group, an independent group of world leaders, asked Al Jaber if he would lead the phase-out of fossil fuels.
In his response, Al Jaber told Robinson, “there’s no science out there, or no case out there, that says the fossil fuel phase-out is going to be 1.5.” He said he hoped the She Changes Climate meeting would lead to a “sober and mature conversation” and that he was not “accepting any discussion that would be alarmist.”
He continued that the 1.5 degree target was his “north star,” and that it was “inevitable” to gradually reduce and phase out fossil fuel but “we have to be real, serious and pragmatic about it.”
In a series of increasingly harsh responses to Robinson as he was pressed on the point, Al Jaber asked her “Please help me, show me a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels that will allow development socio-economically sustainable, if you don’t want to. bringing the world back into caves.”
Al Jaber’s presidency of the COP28 summit was controversial. The Emirati businessman is the UAE’s climate envoy and chairs the board of directors of his renewables company, but also heads the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
A spokesperson for the COP28 team told CNN in a statement that “this story is just another attempt to undermine the Presidency’s agenda, which is clear and transparent and backed by tangible achievements by the COP President and his team.”
“It is clear to the President of the COP that it is inevitable to phase out fossil fuels and that we must keep 1.5C within reach,” adding, “we are excited about the progress which we have done so far and with ambitious (global) delivery. stock count) determination. Attempts to undermine this will not weaken our resolve.”
Fossil fuels are the main driver of the climate crisis and as the world continues to burn oil, coal and gas, global temperatures are rising to unprecedented levels. This year has seen record global heat, which has fueled deadly extreme weather events.
Fossil fuel production in 2030 is expected to be more than double what would be necessary to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees, a recent report from several scientific institutions, including the Environment Program found. the UN. That report used scenarios laid out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) to reach its conclusion.
“If the IPCC and the IEA don’t count as science I don’t know what does,” said Ploy Achakulwisut, a climate researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute and one of the authors of the report. She told CNN that it concluded that “all fossil fuels must be phased out especially if carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture and storage measures fail at scale.”
Carbon capture refers to a set of techniques that aim to remove carbon pollution from the air and capture what is being produced from power stations and other polluting facilities. While some argue that carbon capture will be an important tool to reduce planet-warming pollution, others argue that these technologies are expensive, unproven at scale and interfere with policies to reduce fossil fuel use. reduction.
Al Jaber’s comments were widely criticized by scientists and climate groups.
Romain Ioualalen, head of global policy at the non-profit Oil Change International, said in a statement that Al Jaber’s statements during the panel discussion were “alarming,” “a denial of science” and “raised serious concerns about the ability of the Presidency of the United Nations climate talks United to lead. .”
Joeri Rogelj, a climate professor at Imperial College London, said he strongly recommended that Al Jaber go back on the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“That report, unanimously approved by 195 countries including the UAE, outlines different ways to limit warming to 1.5°C — all of which represent a de facto phase-out of fossil fuels in the first half of the century. Will that bring the world back to the caves? Of course not,” he said in a statement.
Mohamed Adow, director of climate think tank Power Shift Africa, said Al Jaber’s remarks were a “wake-up call” for the world and COP28 negotiators. “They are not going to get any help from the Presidency of the COP to achieve a strong result in fossil fuel phasing out,” he said in a statement.
This COP summit will conclude the first global stocktaking, where countries will assess their progress on climate action and work out how to put the world on track to limit catastrophic global warming.
CNN’s Angela Dewan and Rachel Ramirez contributed reporting
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