[ad_1]
DUBAI: Negotiations over the future of fossil fuels heated up at UN climate talks on Saturday (Dec 9), 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 the COP28 talks in Dubai 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.
French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said the OPEC statement left her “stunned” and “angry”.
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.
“1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels,” said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which chairs the High Ambition Coalition, a broad group of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and Pacific island states.
Around seven activists protested in front of OPEC’s booth at the COP28 venue, with their palms held up to show words such as “phase out”, according to video footage shared by the NGO 350.org.
[ad_2]
Source link