COP28: No Decision was Taken on Energy Transition, Says OPEC Chief

Peter Uzoho with agency reports

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said yesterday there was no “single solution” to the energy transition as pressure grows to agree on phase-out of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate talks.

“There is no single solution or path to achieve a sustainable energy future,” OPEC Secretary General, Haitham Al Ghais, said during the UN meeting in Dubai.
“We need realistic approaches to tackle emission, ones that enable economic growth, help eradicate poverty and increase resilience at the same time.”
OPEC attracted criticism yesterday after it emerged that the Kuwaiti Secretary-General wrote to the group’s 13 members and 10 allies this week urging them to “proactively reject” any language that “targets” fossil fuels instead of emissions.

Negotiators have held marathon sessions aimed at finding a compromise on the fate of oil, gas and coal as they aim to achieve the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday, with OPEC catching flak over the oil cartel’s push to block any phase-out in the final deal.

The tone has veered between optimism and concern about the pace of talks as negotiators have held marathon sessions aimed at finding a compromise on the fate of oil, gas and coal.

OPEC added fuel to the fire after it emerged that its Kuwaiti secretary general, Haitham Al Ghais, sent a letter to the group’s 13 members and 10 allies this week urging them to “proactively reject” any language that “targets” fossil fuels instead of emissions.
“I think that it is quite, quite a disgusting thing that OPEC countries are pushing against getting the bar where it has to be,” Spanish ecology transition minister Teresa Ribera, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters.
Dramatically scaling up the deployment of renewable energy while winding down the production and consumption of fossil fuels is crucial to achieving the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The High Ambition Coalition, a broad group of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and Pacific Island states, also criticised the OPEC move.
“Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on Earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels,” said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which chairs the coalition.

“1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels,” Stege added.
A third draft deal released Friday offers various ways to phase out fossil fuels, but it also includes the option to not mention them at all in the final text.
Saudi Arabia had until now been the most vocal country against a phase-out or phase-down of fossil fuels.
In the OPEC letter sent Wednesday, Ghais said it “seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences”.

Assem Jihad, spokesman for Iraq’s oil ministry, told AFP his country supports the OPEC letter.
Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel Ghani “has rejected attempts to target fossil fuels”, Jihad said.

He added that Ghani has tasked Iraq’s COP28 delegation to “ensure that the wording of the final statement emphasises world cooperation on a reduction of emissions to preserve the environment and climate”.
But another OPEC member, COP28 host- the United Arab Emirates, has taken a conciliatory tone throughout the negotiations and acknowledged that a phase-down was “inevitable”.