COP28: Kuwait rejects fossil fuel phaseout, calls for emissions reduction

Kuwait's oil minister rejected any calls for fossil fuels phaseout on the final day of the COP28 UN climate change summit in Dubai Dec. 12, urging nations to focus on emissions instead.

"Kuwait deeply believes in the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions to protect the environment," Saad al-Barrak said in a statement to KUNA.

"New technical and control solutions" would achieve the emissions control, Barrak said. Ditching fossil fuels would create "enormous problems" for the energy sector and development process, he added.

His comments echo that of OPEC's secretary general Haitham al-Ghais who in a letter seen by S&P Global Commodity Insights urged oil exporters in the group to "reject any text or formula that targets energy, i.e fossil fuels, rather than emissions."

The group's efforts seem to have borne fruit, with the latest draft text of the COP28 Global Stocktake on Dec. 11 containing no reference to the phaseout of oil and gas, though it does call for "reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science."

The document recognizes the "need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions" via tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, phasing out unabated coal, as well as "accelerating efforts" toward net-zero emissions energy systems and using low-carbon fuels by mid-century.

No to phaseout

Kuwait's dismissal of fossil fuels phaseout followed outright rejection of any mention of it in the critical text by OPEC heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Iraq, OPEC's second-biggest oil producer, told S&P Global Dec. 11 that it would not agree to a phasedown or phaseout of fossil fuels, while it has already begun steps to reduce emissions.

"We agree to phase out emissions, phase down emissions, not the fuel," according to Abdulbaqi Alsalait, energy adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. When Iraq agreed to the Paris Agreement in 2015, it signed up for a 2% reduction in emissions from 2020 to 2030 and is already down 4%, he added.

According to the World Bank, Iraq has the second highest volume of gas flaring in the world, which adds to its high emissions levels. Iraq's climate envoy Fareed Yasseen told a Dubai conference Dec. 7 that the country planned to eliminate gas flaring by 2028, two years earlier than planned.

Saudi Arabia, which has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2060, was also against fossil fuel phaseout in the run-up to the Dec. 11 draft text.

The country's energy minister said he would "absolutely not" support any text calling for the phaseout of fossil fuels, speaking during an interview with Bloomberg TV Dec. 4.

Oil lobbying

Climate activists denounced efforts by oil heavyweights present in the lead-up to the formulation of the text, saying they were detrimental to achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of reach keeping global warming under the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold.

The "vague commitment" to reduce both consumption and production of fossil fuels by 2050 "is a clear indication of the fossil fuel industry's lobbying power, influencing global policies to favor prolonged fossil fuel use," Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, said in a statement.

"If we fail to issue a decisive and strong directive from COP28, we stand at the precipice of crossing the crucial 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold. Such a scenario would unleash catastrophic consequences globally, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable communities," he added.