Dubai | COP28 climate summit supremo Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber has sought to hose down the furore surrounding his apparent championing of the oil and gas industry’s go-slow approach to climate change, saying he was seized of both the science and the urgency around curbing fossil fuels.

Dr Jaber, who also runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, pleaded for time and space to prove sceptics wrong and deliver a robust outcome to the two-week summit.