Tension is growing between the European Union and OPEC, which is accused of wanting to hinder the final agreement at the UN climate summit (COP28) being held in Dubai. “It is repugnant that the OPEC countries are putting pressure on us not to get to where we need to get,” declared Teresa Ribera, the Minister for the Ecological Transition of Spain, who now holds the European presidency. This was his reaction to letters from Haitham al Ghais, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), who this week “urgently” asked the 23 member or associated countries to “proactively” reject any agreement that points towards fossil fuels.
At the conference, the EU27, the United States and Canada push the position in favor of a “phase out” of fossil fuels. “We are not talking about getting rid of fossil fuels tomorrow,” said the minister, convinced that if the conditions are not created to mark the way out of fossil energy “we will continue to waste billions on things that damage our climate, harm development sustainable and are quite unfair,” explained the minister.
The Kuwaiti’s intervention provoked an avalanche of reactions. The French Minister for the Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said that she was “stunned” and “angry” by the words of the OPEC director.
In his letter, Al Ghais points out that “although member countries” and their partners “take climate change seriously (…), it would be unacceptable for politically motivated campaigns to endanger the prosperity and future of our people.” . And there the reply has not been long in coming either. “Nothing endangers the prosperity and future of the Earth’s inhabitants, including the citizens of OPEC countries, more than fossil fuels,” said Tina Stege, delegate of the Pacific Marshall Islands, threatened by the increase of the waters.
“There is now a real possibility that COP28 will send the signal that the age of fossils is beginning,” said Helena Spiritus of WWF. Ribera added that the draft agreement released on Friday is very vague. “We need to be more explicit, reduce the presence of fossil fuels and be able to do without them”; and she added that the EU’s battle is to “set dates, percentages, and start with coal.”
India and Arabia appear as the countries most opposed to a possible agreement for a “gradual abandonment” of fossil fuels. China’s emissary, Xie Zhenhua, recalled yesterday that his country and the United States signed a joint declaration in November in which it was stated that renewable energies (solar, wind…) should gradually replace fossil fuels. Can this be the basis of a commitment at COP28?
