‘He believes in the science’: COP28 defends leader for fossil fuel remarks

Dubai: The presidency of COP28 has defended its leader for saying there is “no science” that phasing out fossil fuels is needed to cap global warming, insisting a video of the remarks was released to undermine the Emirati leadership of the climate summit.

On the fifth day of the talks in Dubai, COP28 Director-General Majid Al Suwaidi hosed down the earlier remarks by President Dr Sultan Al Jaber, reported by The Guardian, as a distraction from the work of the conference.

“There are many things that are happening here at COP that you are not reporting about, and you focus on this one thing,” Suwaidi told reporters at Dubai’s Expo 2020 site.

“What he was talking about was, of course, that net-zero 2050. We all know that it’s very clear in all of the scientific reports that fossil fuels are going to be part of that mix, and he’s spoken very clearly that he thinks the phase down of fossil fuels is inevitable.”

Monday is finance day at the climate pow-wow, which opened last week with a flurry of announcements including more than $720 million in pledges from wealthy nations to support poor countries hit by climate change.

The technical work of negotiators is under way, with little more than a week to find consensus between almost 200 nations in how to solve the climate emergency.

Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the UAE’s state-owned oil company, was speaking at a live online event on November 21 when he said there was “no science” suggesting a fossil fuel phase-out was needed to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees.

“Please help me, show me the road map for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves,” Jaber said.

Sultan al-Jaber. Credit: AP

Suwaidi on Monday said the president had been “clear that he believes in the science” and wanted to deliver language around energy in the final COP28 agreement.

“Rather than politicians who make high-faluting announcements around things, he’s talking from a scientific, engineering, qualified, knowledgeable perspective,” he said, adding that some continued to try to undermine the presidency.

At the weekend, the US announced it would contribute $3 billion to help developing countries slash emissions, while the EU said it would invest $2.5 billion towards the energy transition over two years.

While most world leaders left Dubai over the weekend, some remained on Monday to further call for action. Among them was Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who joined Suwaidi for a briefing in which she said countries such as hers depended on a global financial system overhaul to secure long-term capital finance to combat the crisis.

Mottley, who is the incoming head of a group of 20 climate-vulnerable nations, said COP28 progress on a loss and damage fund was welcome, but adaptation must be the priority.

“What we want is to avert damage and avert losses before the event, which is where adaptation is critical.”

Mottley said scaling up multilateral development, banks and concessional funding was “absolutely critical” to nations such as Barbados.

“We saw what the UK had to do, to be able to finance its own ability to survive World War I and to build back, also for World War II. They needed long-term capital, it was 100 year capital,” she said.

“Why do you believe that an industrial country in the early 20th century needed long-term capital [to rebuild] but emerging market countries and developing countries today don’t need it? It is a regrettable form of unconscious bias.”

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.Credit: AP

World-leading economist Lord Nicholas Stern on Monday said the recent global stocktake of commitments made in the 2015 Paris Agreement showed the world had not invested enough in adaptation, loss and damage and the conservation of nature.

“We’ve argued, in capital work by geography and sector, that we have to invest something like $2.4 trillion a year in emerging markets and developing economies outside China,” Stern said.

“That’s 2.4 trillion per annum by 2030. And of course, go on increasing from there...that’s roughly four times the investment in those areas. But that, with a combination of domestic savings and external savings, is perfectly possible.”

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