Sultan Al Jaber, president of the ongoing COP28 summit, has drawn flak for his comment on fossil fuels. According to a media report, Al Jaber said that there was ‘no science’ to demonstrate that phasing out fossil fuels will achieve the global climate goals. Sultan Al Jaber also heads state oil company ADNOC. He, however, added that phasing out of fossil fuels was ‘inevitable’.
The Guardian has published a video that shows a testy exchange between Al Jaber and former Irish leader Mary Robinson. The exchange of words between the two took place during an online forum.Sultan Al Jaber (50) is also the UAE’s climate envoy. He said that eliminating use of fossil fuels will take the world “back into caves”.
“I’m not in any way signing up to a discussion that is alarmist,” Jaber told the SHE Changes Climate online conference on November 21.”I am factual and I respect the science, and there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuels is what’s going to achieve 1.5.”It had been agreed in the landmark 2015 Paris climate conference that the global community will make efforts to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid environmental catastrophe.
An assessment made by the United Nations and released last month revealed that the world was way off-course in meeting the target.”1.5 is my North Star and a phase-down and a phase-out of fossil fuels in my mind is inevitable, it’s essential,” Jaber told the forum on women leading climate action. “But we need to be real, serious and pragmatic about it.””Show me a roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuels that will allow for sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves,” he added.
Al Jaber’s statement causes alarm
The ‘no science’ statement from none other than COP28 president himself has caused alarm in scientific and activist communities.CNN quoted Romain Ioualalen, global policy lead at non-profit Oil Change International who said that Al Jaber’s statements were “alarming,” “science-denying” and “raise deep concerns about the Presidency’s capacity to lead the UN climate talks.”
The news network also quoted Mohamed Adow, director of climate think tank Power Shift Africa, who said that COP28 president’s remarks were a “wake up call”.“They are not going to get any help from the COP Presidency in delivering a strong outcome on a fossil fuel phase out,” he said.Negotiators are facing a possible battle during COP28 over the wording ‘phase out’ or weaker ‘phase down’ of fossil fuels.
Jaber has maintained since June this year that although phasing out of hydrocarbons is inevitable, there need to be viable alternatives in place before it happens and that developed nations should lead the way.
A COP28 spokesperson dismissed The Guardian report as “just another attempt to undermine the presidency’s agenda” which that spokesperson said “has been clear and transparent and backed by tangible achievements by the COP president and his team”. The spokesperson was quoted by AFP.
Source: https://www.wionews.com