Emirati COP28 chief recognises reduction of fossil fuel use ‘inevitable’

The head of the upcoming COP28 climate summit, who also is the chief executive of the UAE’s national oil company, acknowledged Thursday (8 June) that a reduction in the use of fossil fuels is inescapable.

“The phase down of fossil fuels is inevitable,” Sultan al-Jaber said on the sidelines of technical climate talks six months ahead of the summit.

“The speed at which this happens depends on how quickly we can phase up zero carbon alternatives, while ensuring energy security, accessibility and affordability,” added Al Jaber, who runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

Al-Jaber defended a COP28 roadmap that includes a “global goal to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, and double clean hydrogen, all by 2030.”

His comments came as numerous participants and observers in the UN climate negotiations have called on al-Jaber to explicitly acknowledge the importance of ending the use of fossil fuels, an objective no COP summit to date has been able to put down in writing.

‘Need to kick the habit’

Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, an African climate and energy think tank, told AFP that al-Jaber is right to acknowledge the inevitability of the phaseout of fossil fuels.

“Like a drug addict, we need to kick the habit if we’re going to heal and start getting better,” he said.

After coming close to getting a COP resolution to phase out fossil fuels in Glasgow in 2021, and again in Sharm-El-Sheikh in 2022, Adow said this was the year to get it done.

Alden Meyer, a senior policy analyst at climate think tank E3G, called the acknowledgement of the need to phase down fossil fuels “a useful first step”.

However, he added that the vast majority of emissions reductions to be achieved by 2030 “needs to come from cutting use and production of oil, gas, and coal,” rather than from carbon capture or hydrogen.

Ross Fitzpatrick, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Christian Aid Ireland, said it was great to see the COP28 chief “waking up to the inevitability of phasing out fossil fuels”.

“The UAE would be a very fitting location to mark the end of the fossil fuel age,” he added.

Statement with EU chief

On Wednesday, al-Jaber signed a statement with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen that confirmed a “commitment to work together to facilitate the highest possible ambition at this year’s UNFCCC conference”.

The statement also called for “a transition towards energy systems free of unabated fossil fuels,” meaning fossil fuels without carbon capture systems, hinting at a possible compromise in the coming months between different camps in the negotiations.

“We must be laser-focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions, while phasing up viable, affordable zero carbon alternatives,” al-Jaber said at an event in Germany last month.

The statement was interpreted at the time as a defence of oil and gas, on the condition that it is used with carbon capture technologies that are still not mature and remain uncertain.

At the talks in Bonn, the exit from fossil fuel use dominated the talk among activists and experts who pointed to the fact that burning fossil fuels is by far the main driver of global warming.

Activists have organised protests at the Bonn talks calling for energy firms to be kicked out of the climate negotiations.

cover photo:Sultan Al Jaber (L), the COP28 president-designate and UAE special envoy for energy and climate change, attends a meeting at the climate change conference in the former 'Bundestag' parliament building in Bonn, Germany, 08 June 2023. [EPA-EFE/BENJAMIN WESTHOFF]