COP28: Outrage at summit head’s comments on fossil fuels is misplaced – and could be counterproductive
There was outrage and frustration at COP28 and beyond, when it emerged the man running the climate summit had said there is “no science” behind demands for a “phase out” of fossil fuels.
And taken at face value – the outrage is justified.
There is clear, global scientific consensus that unless carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere are cut by nearly half in the next few years – and reach zero by 2050 – we will exceed the danger level of 1.5 degrees of warming by mid-century.
But the anger, in my view, is misplaced (hear me out) and potentially counterproductive.
First “no science” isn’t all that Dr Sultan al Jaber said on the issue. The president of COP28 (and CEO of Abu Dhabi’s national oil company), qualified his statement saying that keeping global warming below 1.5C was his sole objective at COP28 and that fossil fuel phase-out was “inevitable”.
His argument – and it is a tenuous one – is that under scenarios presented by independent bodies like the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the IEA (International Energy Agency), there is still the possibility some fossil fuel could be used after the world gets to net zero.
The only way that view can be justified is if there is radical reductions in fossil fuels and the emissions of what little remain are buried underground.
The carbon capture and storage technologies needed to do that, at the scale required, currently don’t exist. So it’s a fairly naive argument.
So why make it?
Well, it could simply be a continuation of the slippery, denialist and often downright deceptive language that oil states and fossil fuel companies have used for years to prevent progress at climate summits.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘No science’ behind phasing out fossil fuels, says COP28 chief
It’s one of the reasons why COP1 didn’t solve the climate crisis and 28 years – and a degree’s worth of warming – later we’re still talking about cutting carbon emissions. And carbon emissions are still going up.
But the other reason is that it’s equally naive to ignore the reality of where the negotiations around climate change currently stand.
An immovable block of fossil fuel economies have resisted every attempt to get a global commitment to phasing out fossil fuels for decades: Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Canada, even the US is still squeamish about it. Many of them will likely do the same at this summit.
Remember too, 80% of the world’s primary energy demand is currently provided by the fossil fuels they control.
And Dr Sultan may offer the key to unlocking that obstacle.
Read more:
Who is Sultan al Jaber, and can an oil boss run a climate conference?
Pledge to triple renewable power like ‘mission impossible’
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
COP28 chief denies using summit for oil deals
The UAE is one of the world’s largest oil producers. It has also invested impressive amounts of its oil wealth in renewable energy. Right now, it spends significantly more on oil exploration than clean energy. But its message is one of diverting its economy rapidly away from oil.
And because it is allied with other petrostates it might – even by tiny degrees – be able to shift their position towards consensus at a climate summit like COP28.
Given the speed at which many countries are deploying renewables – and the undeniable impacts of climate change – even the most die-hard of fossil fuel economies know the world is losing its taste for their product.
If Dr Sultan’s stated aim of “keeping 1.5 alive” is just a ruse to allow his country and other fossil fuel states to continue as normal – nothing much has changed.
Every year COP has ended with much ambition from a coalition of the willing (read: countries rich enough to afford alternatives to fossil fuels) versus those who have obfuscated so they can keep pumping oil until the world burns.
But even if the COP president only half means what he says – there is hope for a different type of progress at this summit and one we have been needing for a long time.
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
Read more:
Who is in Trump’s top team?
Trump’s cabinet signals tough stance on China
Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway