Exclusive: UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber says phase-out of coal, oil and gas would take world ‘back into caves’

Exclusive: UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber says phase-out of coal, oil and gas would take world ‘back into caves’

The president of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal.

Al Jaber also said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves”.

The comments were “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”, scientists said, and they were at odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António Guterres.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
      31·
      11 months ago

      This is exactly why they hosted it in an OPEC nation; to continue hamstringing the transition from fossils & delaying the impact to their profit margins — the same thing they’ve been doing for the last 50 years.

      • tinkeringidiot@lemmy.world
        2·
        11 months ago

        It’s because UAE volunteered to pay for it all. These things are expensive and no one over age 8 believes a UN event will result in any action, much less international cooperation on climate. Since it’s all just a PR stunt, UAE might as well spend a rounding error of its oil proceeds on having some control over the narrative.

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 months ago

      “Oh, we knew about it all right. But that would have had marginally negative short term effects on very specific parts of the economy, so we doubled down instead.”

  • Additional_Prune@lemmy.world
    19·
    11 months ago

    “verging on climate denial” Verging? And this guy is the president of Cop28? Holy crap. Stick a fork in humanity, it’s done.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    17·
    11 months ago

    Those sheiks never feel the global warming, they have their AC, and slaves for anything that needs to be done outside.

  • yojimbo@sopuli.xyz
    162·
    11 months ago

    …and just a few hours later: claims of being mistinterpreted (again - Guardian). Poor princeling - never even imagined someone could speak back to him and now has no idea how to act. Maybe shouldn’t have left the cave after all 🤔

  • Norgur@kbin.social
    147·
    11 months ago

    I mean, yeah, science doesn’t say “we need to absolutely phase out fossil fuels”, it says “we need to cut back on greenhouse gases”, so we could cut back everything else to achieve that and make mister sultan guy happy and allow him to create another artificial peninsula in the shape of a middle finger this time or whatever… Oooooor, we could cut back on fossil fuels because that’s actually the easiest option. Sorry if my wish for my son to have a planet with a working ecosystem to live on isn’t overriden by your wish for a massive gold Ferrari or whatever you Islamic moneybags like to buy these days…

  • The Barto@sh.itjust.works
    6·
    11 months ago

    Al Jaber also said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want me to take the world back into caves, if you take away our endless flow of money."

  • Daxtron2@startrek.website
    3·
    11 months ago

    How do we fix this situation without straight up eliminating the people in power who refuse to even acknowledge the existence of climate change?

  • x0chi@lemmy.world
    2·
    11 months ago

    How can I upvote this? I like the fact that the poster took the time to post it here, but I cannot upvote this news message.

      • bitwolf@lemmy.one
        2·
        11 months ago

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