COP28: Presidency awaits wording on fossil fuel future

The president of the 28th UN Climate Change conference has asked all "parties" involved in fossil fuels to come forward with language for the final outcome of climate talks as the phase-down and phaseout of fossil fuels is "inevitable."

"This is the first presidency ever actively calling on parties to come forward with language on fossil fuels for the negotiated text," Sultan al Jaber, who is also the head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, told a press conference on Dec. 4.

To keep global warming from rising no more than 1.5 C by 2050, fossil fuel use needs to be greatly reduced and unabated coal use needs to be completely phased out, Jim Skea, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in the press conference with Jaber.

Oil use by 2050 needs to be slashed by 60% and natural gas demand by 45%, Skea said. "I might say that i have had a small number of one-to-one conversations with Dr. Sultan and the topic has exclusively been on the science. I can say that Dr. Sultan has been attentive at the science as we have discussed it and i think has fully understood it.''

$57 billion

The question of future oil and gas use is front and center at the conference as 50 oil and natural gas companies have agreed to reach net zero emissions from their operations by 2050 and to reach near zero emissions from methane by 2030.

Jaber also said that $57 billion has been raised in the first four days of COP28 to tackle the effects of climate change, including $30 billion for a new custom-tailored fund 100%-focused on solutions and bridging gaps, $725 million for loss and damage, $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, $2.7 billion for health, $2.6 billion for nature, $1.2 billion for relief and recovery, $2.5 billion for renewables and $1.2 billion for methane reduction.

"I respect the science in everything I do. And I respect and trust numbers and figures," Jaber said, after the UK's Guardian newspaper carried a report that he had earlier said there was "no science" indicating that a phaseout of fossil fuels is necessary to restrict global heating to 1.5 C.

"I have said over and over that the phase-down and phaseout of fossil fuels is inevitable," he said. "In fact it is essential. And this transition is in fact essential and it needs to be orderly, fair, just and responsible. Allow me to say I am quite surprised at the constant attempt to undermine this message."

State-owned Saudi Aramco is on track to boost its maximum sustainable crude oil production capacity to 13 million by 2027, up from 12 million now, while ADNOC is lifting its own capacity to 5 million b/d by 2027, from about 4.65 million b/d now. The UAE is also investing in renewables, nuclear energy and hydrogen.

The UAE's minister of energy Suhail al Mazrouei earlier on Dec. 4 said every barrel of oil needs to be produced "responsibly and with the least carbon emissions."