Last December, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber became the face of the United Nation’s COP28 summit in Dubai as the host of the world’s climate elites.On Tuesday, Al Jaber, who is also oil minister of the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, was in Paris calling for “unprecedented climate action" to preserve a last-minute agreement — the so-called ‘UAE Concensus’ — to keep world temperatures from exceeding a predetermined 1.5C threshold under the Paris Accord.Speaking at the offices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to give a post-mortem to the climate summit, Al Jaber warned of “turmoil” if the world failed to transition away from fossil fuels by 2050.The irony is that he’s also the president of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) which is the world’s 12th largest oil company. The UAE itself is alternately the world’s fifth or sixth largest oil producer, at four million barrels per day (bpd) with plans to ramp up production 25% to five million bpd by 2030.If so, that would be equivalent to Canada behind only Saudi Arabia, the US and Russia in terms of output..“We must now turn an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action. Now is the time for all stakeholders to step up.”COP28 President Dr. Al Jaber.“The UAE Consensus set a new direction and a clear course correction,” said Al Jaber, who is also UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, referring to the COP28 deal signed by close to 200 countries.“We must now turn an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action. Now is the time for all stakeholders to step up.”Noting that at COP28 "solidarity overcame polarization, inclusivity prevailed over finger-pointing and the spirit of partnership brought the best of humanity together," he said.The conference was notable in that it nearly ended in failure; an agreement was only reached at the last minute after protests from major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia — and even the UAE — over the precise wording of “transitioning” from fossil fuels to mean “eliminating” them altogether.Even countries such as Canada used it as a political platform for federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to introduce hotly contested policies such as methane and absolute emissions caps on oil and gas.In that regard, Al Jaber said countries must also address the demand instead of punishing oil and gas production.“The energy transition will lead to energy turmoil, if we only address the supply side of the energy equation." This "require smart policy incentives to commercialize nascent-zero carbon alternatives for heavy industry, like hydrogen. It will require massive investment in grid infrastructure to deliver renewable energy to the end user. And it will require governments and all relevant parties to be honest and transparent about the costs and trade-offs involved." The COP29 climate change summit runs from November 11 to 24 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Last December, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber became the face of the United Nation’s COP28 summit in Dubai as the host of the world’s climate elites.On Tuesday, Al Jaber, who is also oil minister of the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, was in Paris calling for “unprecedented climate action" to preserve a last-minute agreement — the so-called ‘UAE Concensus’ — to keep world temperatures from exceeding a predetermined 1.5C threshold under the Paris Accord.Speaking at the offices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) to give a post-mortem to the climate summit, Al Jaber warned of “turmoil” if the world failed to transition away from fossil fuels by 2050.The irony is that he’s also the president of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) which is the world’s 12th largest oil company. The UAE itself is alternately the world’s fifth or sixth largest oil producer, at four million barrels per day (bpd) with plans to ramp up production 25% to five million bpd by 2030.If so, that would be equivalent to Canada behind only Saudi Arabia, the US and Russia in terms of output..“We must now turn an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action. Now is the time for all stakeholders to step up.”COP28 President Dr. Al Jaber.“The UAE Consensus set a new direction and a clear course correction,” said Al Jaber, who is also UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, referring to the COP28 deal signed by close to 200 countries.“We must now turn an unprecedented agreement into unprecedented action. Now is the time for all stakeholders to step up.”Noting that at COP28 "solidarity overcame polarization, inclusivity prevailed over finger-pointing and the spirit of partnership brought the best of humanity together," he said.The conference was notable in that it nearly ended in failure; an agreement was only reached at the last minute after protests from major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia — and even the UAE — over the precise wording of “transitioning” from fossil fuels to mean “eliminating” them altogether.Even countries such as Canada used it as a political platform for federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to introduce hotly contested policies such as methane and absolute emissions caps on oil and gas.In that regard, Al Jaber said countries must also address the demand instead of punishing oil and gas production.“The energy transition will lead to energy turmoil, if we only address the supply side of the energy equation." This "require smart policy incentives to commercialize nascent-zero carbon alternatives for heavy industry, like hydrogen. It will require massive investment in grid infrastructure to deliver renewable energy to the end user. And it will require governments and all relevant parties to be honest and transparent about the costs and trade-offs involved." The COP29 climate change summit runs from November 11 to 24 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
