The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, is underway, and is already generating significant controversy. Sultan Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the president of COP28, came under fire Sunday for recent comments that denied the basic scientific realities of climate change. The controversy began when Jaber was being interviewed by Mary Robinson, a former UN special envoy for climate change, for the She Changes Climate event. After insisting that he would not participate in any "alarmist" conversation, Jaber insisted that "there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5º C," referring to limiting the global temperature rise.
After Robinson noted that Jaber's company is investing in fossil fuels, he doubled down, adding that any phase-out of fossil fuels would "take the world back into caves" and that "I don’t think [you] will be able to help solve the climate problem by pointing fingers or contributing to the polarization and the divide that is already happening in the world. Show me the solutions. Stop the pointing of fingers. Stop it."
Jaber attempted to walk back his comments on Monday, telling reporters that "I have said over and over that the phase down and the phase out of fossil fuel is inevitable." He received support from Professor Jim Skea, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who insisted that Jaber "has been attentive to the science." Jaber is the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), while the UAE is one of the world's top 10 oil and gas producers. Despite Jaber's claims to the contrary, scientists overwhelmingly agree that climate change is both real and primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
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