In a video revealed on Sunday December 3 by The Guardian, the president of COP28, Sultan Al-Jaber, believes that “no scientific study, [qu’]no scenario says that the exit from fossil fuels will allow us to reach 1.5°C.
Controversy at COP 28. Since November 30 and until December 12, the 2023 Dubai Conference on climate change is in full swing. If the profession of its president, Sultan Al-Jaber, who is none other than the CEO of the main oil company in the United Arab Emirates, called Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, had already made climate experts and climate organizations cringe. civil society when he was appointed last January, he now finds himself at the heart of a new controversy.
In a video revealed by The Guardian On Sunday, December 3, 2023, Sultan Al-Jaber can be seen having a heated exchange with former Irish President and member of the Global Elders group, Mary Robinson. The president of COP 28 believes, among other things, that there is “no science” behind the demands for the gradual elimination of fossil fuels. This exchange dates back to November 21, specifies the British newspaper.
“Send the world back to the cave age”
In this discussion, we can hear Sultan Al-Jaber say: “I will in no case subscribe to alarmist discussions. No scientific study, no scenario, says that the exit from fossil fuels will allow us to reach 1.5° VS.” And the CEO of the oil company added: “Show me the road map for an exit from fossil fuels that is compatible with socio-economic development, without sending the world back to the age of caves.”
Words which had the effect of a bomb, pushing the president of COP 28 to speak out on this subject on Monday. “I am really surprised by the constant and repeated attempts to try to undermine the work of the presidency. All its work is centered and focused on science,” he declared, recalling in passing that he had an engineering background and even assuring that “science has guided [s]for life”. “Science says that we must achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and that we must reduce emissions by 43% by 2030″ to limit warming to 1.5°C, a then indicated Sultan Al-Jaber, before assuring that the 1.5°C target is the “North Star” of the presidency of COP 28. And Sultan Al-Jaber insisted again: “I have said again and again that the reduction and exit from fossil fuels was inevitable.”