Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change

Sultan Al Jaber is the head of oil major ADNOC and the UAE’s special envoy on climate change.

Bangalore:

The head of this year’s United Nations climate talks said on Tuesday that the energy industry must play a role in the campaign to tackle global warming and denied any “conflict of interest”. Sultan Al Jaber, head of oil major Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the United Arab Emirates’ special envoy on climate change, also called for “pro-growth and climate-friendly policies”.

“The energy transition requires all sectors of society to work together, to work together and that certainly means including efforts from the energy sector,” he told the India Energy Week conference in Bengaluru.

“This is not a conflict of interest, and it is in our mutual interest for the energy industry to work with everyone to find the solutions the world needs.”

Climate activists have criticized the decision to hold COP28 in the UAE, a major oil producer, and the selection of Al Jaber to chair the conference.

The Gulf monarchy, which will host COP28 in Dubai in November and December, argues that oil remains indispensable to the global economy.

Al Jaber added that the energy transition could bring “the greatest leap in economic prosperity since the first industrial revolution”.

“The world still needs hydrocarbons and will need them to transition from the current energy system to a new energy system,” he said.

“We cannot unplug our current energy systems until we build new ones. Therefore, we must minimize their carbon footprint (and) only invest in the least carbon-intensive bucket”.

Al Jaber promised to use his experience and connections to “bring the entire energy industry together to pick up the pace.”

COP27, held in Egypt in November, finally adopted a bitterly debated text on aid to low-income countries affected by climate change, but failed to set new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have to end energy poverty while maintaining 1.5 degrees of activity,” Al Jaber said, referring to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“We need to move from talking about goals to getting things done.”

(Aside from the title, this story is unedited by NDTV staff and published via a syndicated feed.)