ABU DHABI (Reuters/Al Jazeera) – The United Arab Emirates says countries should agree to phase out fuel emissions - not the production of oil, gas and coal - at the upcoming UN climate change negotiations that it will host this December.
The comments reflect deep divisions between nations over how to combat global warming ahead of the COP28 talks. Some wealthy Western governments and climate-afflicted island nations have been pushing for a phase out of fossil fuels, while resource-rich countries have campaigned to keep drilling.
UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Almheiri said phasing out fossil fuels would hurt countries that either depend on them for revenue or cannot easily replace hydrocarbons with renewable energy sources.
She favors phasing out fossil fuel emissions using capture and storage technology while ramping up renewable energy, saying this strategy allows countries to fight global warming while continuing to produce oil, gas and coal.
“The renewable space is advancing and accelerating extremely fast, but we are nowhere near to be able to say that we can switch off fossil fuels and solely depend on clean and renewable energy,” Almheiri said on the sidelines of a climate conference in Washington, DC.
“We are now in a transition, and this transition needs to be just and pragmatic because not all countries have the resources,” she said.
The comments reflect deep divisions among nations over how to combat the growing danger from climate change ahead of UN negotiations, known as COP28, to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Some wealthy Western governments and climate-afflicted island nations have been pushing for a phaseout of fossil fuels while resource-rich countries have campaigned to keep drilling.
At last year’s UN climate summit in Egypt, more than 80 countries, including members of the European Union and small island nations, agreed to include language in the final agreement calling for “a phasedown” of all fossil fuels. Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and China, urged Egypt not to include that language in the final text.
This month, the Group of Seven countries with the largest and longest developed economies agreed to hasten their phaseout of fossil fuel consumption although they did not set a firm date.
Almheiri pointed to the UAE’s example of relying on new carbon capture technology and renewables to decrease the emissions intensity of the OPEC member’s oil and gas operations.
Some experts said capture technology is unproven at scale and could require huge investment at the expense of cheaper alternatives, such as solar and wind power.