COP28 chief says reduction of fossil fuel use 'inevitable'

The head of the upcoming COP28 climate summit, who also is the chief executive of the UAE's national oil company, has acknowledged that a reduction in the use of fossil fuels is inescapable.

"The phase down of fossil fuels is inevitable," Sultan al-Jaber said on the sidelines of technical climate talks on June 8 six months ahead of the summit.

"The speed at which this happens depends on how quickly we can phase up zero carbon alternatives, while ensuring energy security, accessibility and affordability," added Al Jaber, who runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

Al-Jaber defended a COP28 roadmap that includes a "global goal to triple renewable energy, double energy efficiency, and double clean hydrogen, all by 2030."

His comments came as numerous participants and observers in the U.N. climate negotiations have called on al-Jaber to explicitly acknowledge the importance of ending the use of fossil fuels, an objective no COP summit to date has been able to put down in writing.

Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, an African climate and energy think tank, told AFP that al-Jaber is right to acknowledge the inevitability of the phaseout of fossil fuels.

"Like a drug addict, we need to kick the habit if we're going to heal and start getting better," he said.

After coming close to getting a COP resolution to phase out fossil fuels in Glasgow in 2021, and again in Sharm-El-Sheikh in 2022, Adow said this was the year to get it done.

Alden Meyer, a senior policy analyst at climate think tank E3G, called the acknowledgement of the need to phase down fossil fuels "a useful first step."

However, he added that the vast majority of emissions reductions to be achieved by 2030 "needs to come from...