OPEC leader tells members to block any COP28 climate summit deal to curb fossil fuels – “Reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions”

By Lisa Friedman
8 December 2023

(The New York Times) – The head of the OPEC oil cartel, alarmed that nations gathered at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai are considering an agreement to phase out fossil fuels, has directed the group’s members to scuttle any deal that would affect the continued production and sales of oil, gas and coal.

In a letter dated Dec. 6, Haitham Al-Ghais, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, warned all members that there was rising pressure at the summit to target fossil fuels. He called those plans “politically motivated campaigns” against oil-rich nations that put “our people’s prosperity and future at risk.”

“It seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences,” Mr. Al-Ghais wrote. The letter was sent to top ministers in all 13 OPEC countries as well as 10 additional nations in an expanded group known as OPEC Plus, which includes Russia.

He urged the petroleum producers to “reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions.”

The burning of fossil fuels is dangerously heating the planet.

The letter, which was first reported by Reuters, is significant because, under U.N. rules, any agreement forged at the climate summit must be unanimously endorsed. Any of the 198 participating nations can thwart a deal.

OPEC declined to comment on the letter. It comes as government ministers and diplomats enter the most grueling period of the two-week summit, where they work into the night in scores of meeting rooms trying to hammer out an agreement across cultures, economies and politics by the Dec. 12 deadline. [more]

OPEC Leader Tells Members to Block Any Climate Summit Deal to Curb Fossil Fuels