{"id":3769,"date":"2023-02-19T15:01:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T15:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/?p=3769"},"modified":"2023-09-13T12:29:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T12:29:12","slug":"opec-urges-big-picture-approach-to-oil-as-cop-28-chair-rejects-conflict-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/3769\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEC Urges \u2018Big Picture\u2019 Approach to Oil as COP 28 Chair Rejects Conflict Accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The oil executive who will lead this year\u2019s United Nations climate talks has responded to fears that fossil fuel interests are hijacking the process: his \u201ctop priority\u201d is to keep the 1.5\u00b0C goal alive, he said, a week after cautioning that the world still needs oil to \u201cbridge from the current energy system to the new one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have no intention whatsoever of deviating from the 1.5\u00b0C goal,\u201d Sultan Al Jaber, the United Arab Emirates climate envoy, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and recently-appointed president of the COP 28 summit, told<\/a> Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeeping 1.5\u00b0C alive is a top priority and it will cut across everything I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that the narrow window to limit warming at 1.5\u00b0C\u2014the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement\u2014is rapidly closing, with only\u00a0about a dozen years remaining\u00a0at humanity\u2019s current rate of emissions before it shuts, according to a 2021 assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Plus, analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA)\u00a0shows that the 1.5\u00b0C goal is only possible by phasing out fossil fuel development now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping Oil in the \u2018Big Picture\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+)\u2014of which\u00a0COP 28 host\u00a0UAE is a member and third-largest producer\u2014has\u00a0rejected\u00a0the IEA\u2019s findings, accusing the agency of being biased in its views on climate change. That would be a new experience for the Paris-based agency, which is has much more routinely faced concerns that it\u00a0gave short shrift\u00a0to 1.5\u00b0C pathways and underestimated the rise of low-carbon energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais recently urged countries to invest much more in oil to meet the world\u2019s future energy needs,\u00a0reports\u00a0BNN Bloomberg. The oil and gas industry has been \u201cplagued by several years of chronic underinvestment,\u201d he said last weekend at an energy conference in Cairo, though data\u00a0shows\u00a0that government support for fossil fuels worldwide almost doubled to $697.2 billion in 2021, up from $362.4 billion in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the IEA put those subsidies at a record $1 trillion for 2022, Bloomberg writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Ghais, an oil executive from Kuwait, said the industry would need annual investments worth US$500 billion out to 2045.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is imperative that all parties involved in the ongoing climate negotiations pause for a moment: look at the big picture,\u201d he said. These parties must \u201cwork towards an energy transition that is orderly, inclusive and helps ensure energy security for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UAE\u2019s hosting of COP 28 will serve as \u201ca fresh opportunity to explore inclusive, sustainable, and consensus-based solutions to climate change,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fossils in the Mix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the line Al Jaber maintains, as well, even as critics fume at the competing interests of leading a national oil company and steering the global transition off fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not a conflict of interest,\u201d Al Jaber\u00a0insisted in early February, reported Reuters. \u201cIt is in our common interest to have the [fossil] energy industry working alongside everyone on the solutions the world needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cThe UAE COP presidency is listening and ready to engage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Al Jaber also\u00a0warned\u00a0that cutting out oil too soon would cause prices to spike, worsening global energy poverty. \u201cThe world still needs hydrocarbons and will need them to bridge from the current energy system to the new one,\u201d Al Jaber said. \u201cWe cannot unplug the current energy system before we have built the new one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The path forward is to \u201conly invest in the least carbon-intensive barrels and continue to reduce their intensity,\u201d he added, with nations aiming to raise spending on technologies including carbon capture, nuclear power, and hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpending on these fundamental enablers of decarbonization is less than 5% of what is spent on renewables,\u201d he said. \u201cThis must change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADNOC chair since 2016, Al Jaber is \u201cfar from being your average oil executive,\u201d Karim Elgendy, a fellow on Middle East environmental issues at Chatham House,\u00a0told\u00a0the New York Times. \u201cHe has been spearheading the UAE\u2019s climate action well before and during his tenure as the head of Abu Dhabi\u2019s national oil company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Jaber also happens to be the founding CEO and chair of the UAE\u2019s global renewable investment company Masdar, which is heavily involved in the green transition. He told Reuters it was that experience that got him the lead role at ADNOC, with a mandate to \u201ctransform, decarbonize, and future-proof\u201d the oil company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dialing Up Renewables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In latest news on Masdar\u2019s rising star, Taqa\u2014the UAE\u2019s largest power utility, and also the biggest shareholder in Masdar\u2019s solar and wind business\u2014is looking to issue several hundred million dollars in green bonds this year,\u00a0reports<\/a> Bloomberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will likely purchase some US$50 billion in wind and solar assets by 2030 and hold stakes in at least 100 gigawatts of power by then, up from 20 GW today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five gigawatts will be built in Angola, Uganda, and Zambia, based on agreements under Etihad 7, the UAE\u2019s global development fund launched last year, aiming to provide 100 million people across Africa with 20 GW of clean electricity by 2035, says<\/a> PR Newswire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These new agreements come one year after Masdar signed a 2-GW renewable energy agreement with Tanzania, and just two months after the company partnered with Egypt on a 10-GW onshore wind project\u2014one of the largest in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masdar and Cairo will also be partnering on green hydrogen projects, for a combined electrolyzer capacity of 4 GW by 2030, with an annual output of 480,000 tonnes of green hydrogen in the works. ADNOC is Masdar\u2019s main partner in its green hydrogen ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But none of this means tightening the crude oil spigot. Currently pumping roughly 3.4 million barrels of crude every day, ADNOC plans to bump that figure up to five million barrels by 2027\u2014rather than 2030 as previously planned. To this end, the oil company will be investing $150 billion, up $23 billion from last year\u2019s financing target, notes<\/a> OilPrice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An \u2018Arms Dealer to Lead Peace Talks\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the UAE doubles down on fossil fuels, climate activists continue to cry foul over Al Jaber\u2019s appointment as COP president. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t invite arms dealers to lead peace talks,\u201d said<\/a> UK-based Global Witness. \u201cSo why let oil executives lead climate talks?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late January, more than two dozen Democratic members of congress petitioned United States climate envoy John Kerry to ask for Al Jaber\u2019s removal,\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0Reuters. Kerry previously endorsed Al Jaber, saying he was a \u201cterrific choice\u201d as head of a national oil company that knows it needs to transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the petition signatories, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), said \u201ctime is getting short to solve the climate crisis and COP is the only venue for finding international agreement on how to get it done. These conversations need to happen free from the malign influence of the fossil fuel industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such fears grew when Politico reported<\/a> the main COP 28 team was operating out of an Abu Dhabi office building right near ADNOC headquarters. Worsening the optics: the building is used by the UAE\u2019s Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, a portfolio that Al Jaber also holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) wrote to the COP 28 presidency enquiring about the independence of the office. On its list of concerns was whether ADNOC had access to COP 28 meetings and documents, whether the IT system being used by the presidency was separate from that used by the ADNOC office, and whether presidency employees were being paid by the oil company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COP Presidency assured the UNFCCC that its office arrangements were only temporary, pending a move to a dedicated space by the end of January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are clear governance guidelines in place to ensure the team can operate entirely independently from any other entity,\u201d the Presidency said in a statement. \u201cFunding for the team and its activities have been entirely provided by the UAE government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then in February, the Guardian revealed<\/a> that at least a dozen ADNOC employees appeared to have been hired on to Al Jaber\u2019s COP team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blurring the Lines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong the officials are two former ADNOC engineers who will act as negotiators on behalf of the UAE at the conference, despite their LinkedIn profiles suggesting they may not have a background in international climate diplomacy,\u201d the Guardian wrote. \u201cMeanwhile, senior executives at the oil company have been \u2018tasked with supporting\u2019 the UAE\u2019s role as hosts of this year\u2019s conference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADNOC has also been seeking to hire someone who could \u201cliaise between COP 28 office and relevant UAE embassies abroad,\u201d according to a job posting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is this \u201cpotential for blurred lines\u201d between the UAE\u2019s fossil industry and the COP team that is sparking concern, writes the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, fossil revenue underwrites the UAE\u2019s \u201cability to provide jobs for citizens and invest in its economic diversification plans\u2014including renewable energy projects themselves,\u201d\u00a0reports<\/a> the Times. And yet, it is vowing to work \u201chand in hand\u201d with the renewable industry, with Al Jaber using that exact phrase in a mid-January meeting with the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if reading from the playbook Al-Ghais used in Cairo, Al Jaber declared: \u201cIn short, we will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of inclusive<\/em>climate progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate organizations around the world are having none of it, reports<\/a> Common Dreams. Ten days after Al Jaber\u2019s meeting with IRENA, the Kick Big Polluters Out network wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, and all parties to the UNFCCC, decrying Al-Jaber\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no honour in appointing a fossil fuel executive who profits immensely off of fueling the climate crisis to oversee the global response to climate change,\u201d the network said. The fact that \u201csuch a move could ever be seen to be legitimate amidst an intensifying climate crisis where millions of lives and ecosystems are on the line exemplifies just how insidious Big Polluters\u2019 stranglehold over climate policy is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gadir Lavadenz of the Demand Climate Justice campaign said polluters \u201ccannot be placed on a leadership pedestal\u201d and warned that the UNFCCC \u201cis undermining its already weak international trust year after year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the UAE Can Build Trust<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Former UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres has declined to assume that Al-Jaber\u2019s proximity to fossil interests puts him beyond the pale of climate leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A COP presidency is, above all, about<\/em> political leadership, Figueres wrote<\/a> in a New Statesman op-ed, describing such leadership as Al Jaber\u2019s to seize, or forfeit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing that she was grateful to him for leading sustainability efforts in his own country and playing a bridge-building role internationally, she urged Al Jaber now to \u201crise above his work on the national stage and embrace his new international responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She urged the same of the UAE, suggesting that paths to \u201cmodel climate leadership\u201d could include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Shifting from a strategic vision that is not compliant with a 1.5\u00b0 future to a legislated 2050 net-zero goal;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Committing to support Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley\u2019s proposal to direct 1% of fossil profits to a global loss and damage fund; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Supporting \u201can international phasedown of fossil fuels, ensuring 2023 is a turning point in which countries boost their climate goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the historically decisive decade in which we must leave fossil fuels behind,\u201d Figueres writes. \u201cAnd while it is admittedly not easy to successfully combine sincere openness to all positions with deep commitment to an ambitious outcome, the future of humanity requires that the UAE and Al Jaber strive to meet the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Updated on