Climate summit chairman: ‘You can only abolish oil if everyone starts living in caves again’

Even a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels will not enable sustainable development “unless you want the world to live in caves again,” the British newspaper quotes The Guardian al-Jaber.

The comments are “incredibly worrying” and “borderline climate denial,” scientists say. Al-Jaber’s comments run counter to the purpose of the climate summit, which will examine whether the world has done enough to meet 2015 international agreements to reduce the greenhouse effect.

There is a broad scientific consensus that this requires abolishing the use of fossil fuels, especially oil.

Biggest polluters

The choice of the United Arab Emirates as host country for COP28 was criticized for this reason from the start. The oil country is among the largest net polluters in the world. Al-Jaber is also the CEO of the state oil company Adnoc. He has at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Al-Jaber made according The Guardian the “angry” comments following questions from Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and former UN special envoy for climate change, during a live online event on November 21, more than a week before the start of COP28.

“I was prepared to come to this meeting for a sober and mature conversation. I am in no way joining a discussion that is alarmist. There is no science, or no scenario, that says the fossil fuel phase-out will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius,” al-Jaber stated.

He continued with “please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuels that will enable sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want the world to go back to living in caves.”

Hotly contested issues

More than 100 countries already support a complete phase-out of fossil fuels. Whether the final COP28 agreement calls for this is one of the most hotly contested issues at the summit and could be the key determinant of its success.

Opponents of a phase-out want a ‘phase-down‘, whereby fossil fuels may continue to exist, but the greenhouse gases they emit must be captured.

At the opening of the climate summit on Friday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said there is no doubt: “The science is clear: the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Do not reduce. Phase out, within a clear time frame.”