The future of fossil fuels ignited negotiations in the final stretch of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) on climate change, in Dubai, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) defended their use at an event that has Among its main objectives is to eliminate or reduce its use to stop global warming.
“In my opinion, I think what the OPEC countries are doing, pushing to delay things, is quite nauseating,” Spain’s Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, who represents the Spanish presidency of the Union, told reporters. European Union (EU) in the climate negotiations.
“We are not talking about eliminating fossil fuels tomorrow, but unless we create the conditions to reduce them, so that we go to their elimination, the energy transition will not happen,” he insisted.
Ribera made these statements shortly before entering a plenary session of the ministers together with the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, who co-leads the European negotiating position in Dubai.
The OPEC Secretary General, Haitham Al Ghais, insisted this week in a letter sent to the members of this cartel to reject in Dubai any agreement that goes against fossil fuels.
“The draft decision still contains options to phase out fossil fuels,” Al Ghais warned in his letter.
Although OPEC and its allies (almost 25 countries) “take climate change seriously,” the letter stated, “it would be unacceptable for politically motivated campaigns to endanger the prosperity and future of our people.”
The controversy revolves around how to define the future of the energies considered responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gases.
The draft being discussed at COP28 has up to five options, which basically range from “abandoning” these fossil fuels to “reducing” their use.
One of them is “no text”, that is, not mentioning at all the role of these energies in the future of the climate fight, which would be the favorite position of countries like Saudi Arabia.
Also mentioned is “an exit from fossil energies based on the best possible scientific knowledge.”
And two other “abandonment” formulas link it to the mechanisms of carbon dioxide capture in the atmosphere, to compensate for emissions, a scientific proposal that arouses controversy.
“Each one (of these options) in isolation is not enough. We have to combine them,” explained Ribera, quoted by the AFP news agency.
For his part, Hoekstra clarified that, although this abandonment would be “flat,” it would be accompanied by “a series of specifications.”
These conditions are to triple the generation of alternative energy and double energy efficiency, which are already contained in the draft.
COP28 must set the course for climate action following the review of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which took place in September.
“Nothing endangers the prosperity and future of the Earth’s inhabitants more, including the future of the citizens of OPEC countries, than fossil fuels,” denounced Tina Stege, climate emissary of the Marshall Islands. an archipelago in the Pacific threatened by rising water levels.
“Not everyone is participating constructively and that worries me,” said Germany’s special climate envoy, Jennifer Morgan.
The Colombian Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, endorsed the criticism in a speech yesterday that provoked applause.
Colombia is willing to cut its dependence on oil, the minister recalled. But “in this room there are countries that plan to double their production of fossil fuels,” she cried.
“This way we will not be able to make the transition,” warned Muhamad, who spoke after Saudi Arabia.
“I beg you to finish the task,” asked yesterday the president of COP28, the Emirati Sultan Al Jaber, who also presides over the state oil company Adnoc, and on whom all eyes are focused.
Decisions are made by consensus at UN conferences of parties (COPs).
COP28, which began on November 30, is scheduled to close next Tuesday, although if there is no agreement it could be extended a few more hours, as has already happened in previous events.
Source: Ambito
