The United Arab Emirates, among the world’s top crude exporters, on Monday called for continued investment in oil and gas, two days after a wire deal reached in Glasgow at COP26.
After two weeks of tough negotiations, some 200 countries adopted a compromise in Scotland on Saturday to speed up the fight against global warming. But while the words “coal” and “fossil fuels” were first named at the highest level, the deal negotiated until the last minute is less binding than was hoped for and will not lead to limited warming. at 1.5 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, the most ambitious target of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Despite everything describing COP26 as a “success”, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technologies, Sultan al-Jaber, said on Monday that the world was “still heavily dependent on oil and gas”.
“The oil and gas industry will need to invest more than $ 600 billion […] every year until 2030, if only to meet expected demand, ”he said in Abu Dhabi.
“With economies rebounding from the fastest-paced COVID-19 pandemic in fifty years, demand has exceeded supply,” he added. “The future is coming, but it is not there yet,” said Jaber, whose country is due to host COP28 in two years.
Slow down the transition
The United Arab Emirates, like their Saudi neighbor – the world’s largest exporter of crude – have announced carbon neutrality targets for 2050 or 2060 in recent weeks, without however considering reducing their oil production.
The future is coming, but it’s not here yet
The two countries defend their intention to continue investing in fossil fuels, calling not to rush the transition to clean energies.
Climate experts believe that global production of fossil fuels must decline rapidly and sharply to be able to combat global warming.