COP28 Summit: Future of Fossil Fuels Center Stage at Climate Talks
Editor
30 November 2023 13:54 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Dubai - Delegates from nearly 200 countries will convene this week for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where conference host and OPEC member the UAE hopes to sell the vision of a low-carbon future that includes, not shuns, fossil fuels.
That narrative, also backed by other big oil producer nations, will reveal international divisions at the summit over how to combat global warming.
Countries are split over whether to prioritize phasing out coal and oil and gas or scaling up technologies such as carbon capture to try to diminish their climate impact.
The annual United Nations summit from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 takes place as the world is poised to shatter another record for the hottest year in 2023, and as reports confirm countries' climate pledges are not enough to avert the worst impacts of global warming.
Among the decisions nations must make in the gleaming, high-tech city of Dubai will be whether to agree, for the first time, to gradually "phase out" global consumption of fossil fuels and replace them with sources including solar and wind.
The International Energy Agency, the West’s energy watchdog, issued a report ahead of the conference defining its position.
It called the idea of widespread carbon capture, to contain emissions from burning fossil fuels, an illusion and said the fossil fuel industry must decide between deepening the climate crisis or shifting to clean energy.
In response, OPEC accused the IEA of vilifying oil producers.
Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are the biggest cause of climate change.
OIL MAN AT THE HELM
The arguments for and against the continued use of fossil fuels have focused on COP's incoming president Sultan al-Jaber.
His position as CEO of the UAE's national oil company ADNOC has raised concerns among campaigners, some U.S. Congress members, and EU lawmakers over whether he can be an impartial broker of a climate deal.
Jaber has vehemently denied a report from the BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) that he planned to discuss potential gas and other commercial deals with over a dozen governments ahead of the summit.
