Fossil fuels still have a role to “play” in the “foreseeable future”, the president of COP28 warned this Wednesday, betting in particular, against global warming, on CO2 capture technology. “We know that fossil fuels will continue to play a role for the foreseeable future in helping to meet global energy needs,” Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber told a closing press conference for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, which is supposed to prepare for the forthcoming COP28, organized in late November in Dubai.
The COP28 president, also head of oil giant ADNOC, reiterated his call to triple renewable energy production by 2030. “Our focus must be on phasing out emissions from all sectors, be it oil and gas or industrial of high emission”, he said in a joint press conference with the head of German diplomacy, the environmentalist Annalena Baerbock.
“Unreliable and untested technical solutions”
According to him, the goal would be achieved by “taking advantage of and capitalizing on existing, new and emerging technologies”, including CO2 capture and storage technology. But, judged in particular as very expensive, this solution does not convince a number of NGOs. “We cannot pretend that the solution to the climate crisis lies in unreliable and untested technical solutions that will lead to new risks and new threats,” Tasneem Essop, executive director of the Climate Action Network, reacted in a press release.
“We need real climate solutions, not some speculative technologies to deal with the existential threat of climate change,” said Lavetanalagi Seru, regional coordinator for the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network.
These NGOs have called on the COP President to make a strong commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber “must no longer hide behind the same blockers (those who block negotiations) with special interests. Negotiators must go further and form a strong and united coalition” for the exit of fossil fuels, he has claimed Andreas. Sieber, a member of the Climate Action Network.
Source: BFM TV
