Sultan Al Jaber
by James Murphy
On the eve of COP28, the president of the event, Sultan Al Jaber, the minister of industry and advanced technology for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), commented that “there is no science” or “scenario” in which a fossil fuel phaseout will keep the world’s average global temperature increase under the 1.5°C goal demanded by the United Nations.
Al Jaber made the comments at an event put on by women’s climate-action group SHE Changes Climate on November 21. Questioned by Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group (“an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet”) and a former UN special envoy for climate change, Al Jaber took umbrage with Robinson’s assertion that the world is “in an absolute crisis that is hurting women and children more than anyone.”
“I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C,” Al Jaber said.
“Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves,” the COP28 president added. “I don’t think [you] will be able to help solve the climate problem by pointing fingers or contributing to the polarisation and the divide that is already happening in the world. Show me the solutions. Stop the pointing of fingers. Stop it.”
Since Al Jaber is the president of COP28, which, among other things, is looking to come to an agreement on the phasing out of fossil fuels, climate hysterics found his candor disconcerting, with some calling the comments “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said in July that the world was not only warming, but “boiling,” told delegates pretty much the opposite of what Al Jaber claimed, saying, “The science is clear: The 1.5C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, with a clear timeframe.”
Al Jaber’s comments led some in the climate cult to question his legitimacy as COP28 president.
“COP28 President Al Jaber’s science-denying statements are alarming and raise deep concerns about the Presidency’s capacity to lead the UN climate talks, at a time when leadership and a clear vision are most needed,” said Romain Ioualalen of Oil Change International. “Of course, denying science has been part of the fossil fuel industry’s playbook for decades. But science is not up for debate: we must phase out fossil fuels to have a livable planet.”
In truth, Al Jaber has been somewhat hard to read for the climate zealots, saying on Monday, “I have said over and over that the phase down and phase out of fossil fuels is inevitable…. This transition is, in fact, essential. It needs to be orderly, fair, just, responsible, and well-managed. I am quite surprised at the constant and repeated attempts to undermine this message.”
But his company, Adnoc, is looking to increase drilling and production by 42 percent by 2030, and it shows no signs of slowing down until the 2040s. Adnoc looks to increase its oil output from just over a billion barrels in 2023 to nearly 1.5 billion barrels by 2030. Long term, though, they look to decrease production to 850 million barrels of oil per year by 2050.
Al Jaber’s seemingly mixed messages are concerning to climate zealots, who claim that only by reducing fossil fuel usage to zero, and quickly, can we hope to avoid a climate catastrophe.
“This is an extraordinary, revealing, worrying and belligerent exchange. ‘Sending us back to caves’ is the oldest of fossil fuel industry tropes: it’s verging on climate denial,” said Bill Hare of the climate hysteria-pushing group Climate Analytics. “Al Jaber is asking for a 1.5C roadmap – anyone who cares can find that in the International Energy Agency’s latest net zero emissions scenario, which says there cannot be any new fossil fuel development. The science is absolutely clear [and] that absolutely means a phase-out by mid-century, which will enhance the lives of all of humanity.”
The irony of the climate COPs is that they fly in climate dignitaries from all across the globe on carbon-spewing jets, then expel more hot air in meetings meant to complain about the very behavior that they’re engaging in — unnecessary air travel, for instance. Why shouldn’t an unnecessary conference be headed by a person who is clearly opposed to its raison d’être?