French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said Saturday she was "stunned" after the oil cartel OPEC urged its members to thwart any deal targeting fossil fuels at the COP28 conference.
"I am stunned by these statements from OPEC+. And I am angry," she said from the UN climate conference in Dubai, adding that "OPEC+'s position endangers the most vulnerable countries and the poorest populations who are the first victims of this situation".
Pannier-Runacher said she was "counting on the presidency of the COP not to be influenced by these declarations, and to reach an agreement which affirms a clear objective of phasing out fossil fuels".
OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais sent a letter to the group's 13 members and 10 Russian-led allies this week after negotiators at talks in Dubai released a draft deal that included calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels.
In the letter sent Wednesday, Ghais urged the group to "proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions".
The letter urged OPEC+ members and allies to reject any mention of fossil fuels in the final summit deal, warning that "undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point".
‘First’ OPEC intervention in UN climate talks
The letter has drawn anger from activists and the High Ambition Coalition, a broad group of nations ranging from Barbados to France, Kenya and Pacific island states.
Spain's Ecology Transition Minister Teresa Ribera called the move "disgusting".
It was the first time OPEC's secretariat has intervened in the UN climate talks with such a letter, Alden Meyer, an analyst at the E3G think-tank, told Reuters. "It indicates a whiff of panic," he said.
Saudi Arabia is the top producer in OPEC and the de facto leader of the organisation, and Russia is a member of the OPEC+ group.
By insisting on focusing on emissions rather than fossil fuels, the two countries appeared to be leaning on the promise of expensive carbon capture technology, which the UN climate science panel says cannot take the place of reducing fossil fuel use worldwide.
‘So many issues to settle’
Other countries including India and China have not explicitly endorsed a fossil fuel phase-out at COP28, but have backed a popular call for boosting renewable energy.
China's top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhue, described this year's climate summit as the hardest in his career.
"I have participated in these climate negotiations for 16 years," he told journalists. "The hardest meeting is this year's. There are so many issues to settle."
He said there was little chance the summit would be called a success if nations could not agree to language on the future of fossil fuels.
India's environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, demanded "equity and justice" in any deal, holding that rich countries should be leading global climate action.
Broader diplomatic grievances were also aired at the podium on Saturday, clouding the focus on global warming.
A Russian representative said in a speech that Moscow was looking into whether some of the roughly $300 billion in gold reserves frozen by the West after Russia invaded Ukraine could be used for a climate damage fund for developing countries.
Meanwhile, China complained about what it said was unacceptable talk about Taiwan's participation in the talks. And a Palestinian representative denounced Israel's war in Gaza, saying the conflict made it difficult to focus on climate change efforts.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
