OPEC leader tells members to block any deal at climate summit to curb fossil fuels

The head of the OPEC oil cartel, alarmed that the countries gathered at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai are considering an agreement to phase out fossil fuels, has ordered the group’s members to abandon any agreement that would affect the continued production and sale of oil. gas and coal.

In a letter dated December 6, Haitham Al-Ghais, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, warned all members that there was increasing pressure at the summit to focus on fossil fuels. He called these plans “politically motivated campaigns” against oil-rich countries that “endanger the prosperity and future of our people.”

“It appears that the excessive and disproportionate pressure on fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences,” Mr Al-Ghais wrote. The letter was sent to top ministers in all thirteen OPEC countries and to ten additional countries in an expanded group known as OPEC Plus, which also includes Russia.

He urged petroleum producers to “reject any text or formula that focuses on energy, that is, on fossil fuels, rather than on emissions.”

Burning fossil fuels dangerously heats the planet.

The letter, first reported by Reuters, is significant because under UN rules any deal struck at the climate summit must be approved unanimously. Any of the 198 participating countries can thwart a deal.

OPEC declined to comment on the letter. It comes as ministers and diplomats enter the most grueling period of the two-week summit, working late into the night in dozens of meeting rooms to reach an agreement on cultures, economies and politics before the December 12 deadline to bring.

A draft negotiating text made public by COP28 officials on Friday included several options for the final wording, ranging from a call to phase out fossil fuels “in accordance with the best available science” to making no mention of the future at all of oil, gas and energy. coal.

Possibilities also included a phase-out of “unabated” fossil fuels, a vague term suggesting that oil, gas and coal can continue to be used as long as technology exists to capture and store the resulting carbon emissions. Such technology does not currently exist on the scale that scientists believe is needed.

The OPEC letter sets up a potential showdown in the remaining days of the summit between the group’s member states and other countries, including the United States, that want world economies to transition away from fossil fuels.

Scientists say countries must stop burning coal, gas and oil to limit average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That’s the threshold above which scientists say humans will struggle to adapt to the storms, heat, wildfires, droughts and species extinctions that are already underway but will accelerate.

The planet has already warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius.

As 2023 draws to a close as the hottest year on record, scientists’ warnings are becoming increasingly urgent, and as climate disasters have hit every corner of the globe, pressure is mounting on diplomats gathered in Dubai to take action.

“The letters show that fossil fuel interests are beginning to realize that the writing is on the wall for dirty energy,” Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, an environmental group, said in a statement.

Among those feeling pressure is Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirates’ energy director who is chairing the climate summit. Although Mr Al Jaber has been accused by activists of a conflict of interest, he said on Friday that a transition to wind, solar and other renewable energy was inevitable.

If countries agree in Dubai to phase out, or even phase out, fossil fuels, it would be a historic moment.

Previous UN climate agreements have shied away from even mentioning the words “fossil fuels,” let alone considering a phase-out. The closest the countries came was in Glasgow in 2021, when negotiators tried to include a “phase-out” of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, in the final deal, but China and India objected. They agreed on a “phase out” of coal-fired power plants that do not have the technology to capture their emissions, but no timeline was set.

In Dubai, Saudi Arabia moved during the first week of negotiations to block several proposals related to the phase-out of fossil fuels, according to three diplomats involved in the talks. The negotiators, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the deliberations publicly, said Saudi Arabia’s negotiators have simply refused to participate in discussions about the future of fossil fuels.

Mr Adow said tackling the climate crisis “cannot be stopped by a small group of countries that control the world’s oil supply.”

Former Vice President Al Gore is pushing for changes to UN rules so that agreements require the approval of a so-called supermajority of 75 percent of countries, rather than unanimous consent.

Under current rules, countries must “beg for permission from the oil states” to “protect the future of humanity,” Mr. Gore said at a Bloomberg event at COP28.

Senator Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who arrives at COP28 this weekend with a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, said he was concerned about the high concentration of fossil fuel lobbyists at the summit.

The Associated Press estimated that at least 1,300 fossil fuel lobbyists were present, a record, while a coalition of environmental groups examined registration data and estimated the number at more than 2,400. “Those lobbyists are determined to keep us on the path away from fossil fuels,” Mr. Markey said.

The oil cartel set up a summit pavilion for the first time this year, in a far corner of the site, about a 20-minute walk from the main event venue. The space was no larger than a modest studio apartment, with a handful of chairs set up for small-scale speaking events.

Most of the room seemed devoted to sharing a wide range of facts about petroleum products. During a visit last week when the conference opened, two OPEC employees were arranging and distributing booklets on oil and gas drilling. A digital screen on the wall ticked through production levels for different member states. There were few visitors, but those who stopped by were offered free OPEC-branded chocolate and pens.

Marty Durbin, the senior vice president for policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, claimed that oil executives attended COP28 because they wanted to be “part of the solution.” He said the references to fossil fuels in the final agreement were not as important as the pledges many oil companies made this week to cut methane, a greenhouse gas, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Brad Plumer, Somini Sengupta, Jim Tankersley And Stanley Reed reporting contributed.