Anger at COP28 against OPEC obstruction | COP28: climate summit in Dubai

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The head of OPEC called for rejecting any agreement on fossil fuels in climate negotiations.

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Three days before the end of COP28, countries in favor of an exit from oil, gas and coal are firing at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Saturday, after the head of the cartel dominated by Saudi Arabia called for opposition to any compromise targeting fossil fuels.

I think it's a pretty disgusting thing for the OPEC countries to oppose us setting the bar where it should be on the climate, launched Saturday in front of journalists the Spanish Minister of Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera, whose country holds the biannual presidency of the Council of the European Union.

French Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher said she was stunned and angry.

They were reacting to the words of the Kuwaiti Secretary General of OPEC, who this week urgently asked its 23 member or associated countries to proactively reject any agreement targeting fossil fuels in climate negotiations.

The intervention sparked a deluge of reactions in Dubai, where the future of fossil fuels is at the heart of negotiations, the leader of the cartel and the bloc Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, are increasingly accused of obstruction.

COP28: climate summit in Dubai

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Nothing endangers the prosperity and future of the Earth's inhabitants, including citizens of OPEC countries, more than fossil fuels, said Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege , a Pacific archipelago threatened by rising waters.

But no country wants to be the country designated as the troublemaker, nuance a member of the COP28 presidency team, who especially sees in the Saudi maneuvers a typical technique for the purposes of negotiation.

OPEC has its own pavilion at COP28. Seven demonstrators held a brief seated demonstration there Saturday morning to protest the letter, according to a video from the NGO 350.org.

The OPEC's reaction shows that they are afraid of the growing calls for an exit from fossil fuels and an energy transition, commented Helena Spiritus of WWF. There is now a real possibility that COP28 will send the signal that the age of fossils has begun.

A negotiator from a country favoring a fossil phase-out says the Arab group at the UN is the only one with such total opposition.

Positions are stiffening as COP28 enters its home stretch with the return of ministers since Saturday to bring negotiations to a successful conclusion by Tuesday.

At the podium, the countries followed one another on Saturday without showing any notable evolution in their public positions.

The representative of Qatar even took advantage of the #x27;opportunity to praise natural gas, of which his country is a major producer. Qatar supplies global markets with clean energy through the production of natural gas, Qatar's Minister of the Environment, Faleh Nasser Al-Thani, assured without batting an eyelid.

Emerging and developing countries are demanding compensation from rich countries to sign the abandonment of fossil fuels. The terms equity and fair are all the talk.

At the podium on Saturday, Indian climate minister Bhupender Yadav called on developed countries to set an example.

Behind the scenes, ministers are negotiating to find a formulation capable of combining a strong signal in favor of the exit from fossil fuels , and the recognition that developing countries should not sacrifice their economic development.

Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who plays a key role in the discussions, showed relative optimism, telling AFP that he was quite confident in having a mention of fossil fuels in the final text.