DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber’s controversial remarks that “no science” shows a fossil fuel phaseout is needed to hit climate goals may require “clarification,” U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told POLITICO.
Kerry’s remarks — his first reaction since the Guardian published al-Jaber’s comments on Sunday — show the U.S. diplomat is not withdrawing his long-standing support for the COP28 chief, despite ongoing concerns about al-Jaber’s other role as CEO of ADNOC, the UAE’s state-owned mega oil firm.
“Look, he’s gotta decide how he wants to phrase it, but the bottom line is this COP needs to be committed to phasing out all unabated fossil fuel,” Kerry told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast with Anne McElvoy.
Speaking during an online event in November, al-Jaber said there was no scientific basis to conclude that a fossil fuel phaseout is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius — the most ambitious target of the Paris Agreement. Kerry tried to contextualize the remarks.
“What I think he was saying, and maybe it came out the wrong way, I don’t know; I think he was saying that the science doesn’t dictate the methodology that you have to use,” he said. “You have to choose between many different ways of doing it. Maybe it happens through carbon capture, maybe it doesn’t” — a reference to the largely unproven technology that removes emissions before they enter the atmosphere.
In addition to al-Jaber’s dismissal of the science supporting a fossil fuel phaseout — a stance climate scientists quickly disputed — the COP28 president has also taken heat for leaked documents indicating the UAE planned to use the summit to push fossil fuel deals, allegations al-Jaber strenuously denied.
Kerry has tried to walk a fine line for months with al-Jaber. He has embraced the choice to put an oil executive atop the climate talks, arguing it may help bring the industry to the table to negotiate much-needed cuts to greenhouse gas pollution. But the support has stood out amid the flood of dissent from climate advocates and scores of lawmakers in the U.S. and EU.
In his remarks at the online event, al-Jaber also argued that phasing out fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves.”
Kerry encouraged people to listen to al-Jaber’s words at COP28 itself, which began last Thursday in Dubai and runs through mid-December: “I heard him definitively say in his opening comments to the entire COP that he is committed to 1.5 degrees and that we need to do all the things necessary to implement that.”
When asked whether he would advise al-Jaber to clarify his remarks, Kerry said: “Maybe there’ll be a clarification. I don’t know, but I do know that the COP president’s position is that we have to achieve 1.5 degrees, and he has said that again and again.”
On Monday, al-Jaber did offer some clarification in his first public appearance since the report was published. He took shots at the media portrayal of his comments, which he said ignored his previous remarks that it is “inevitable” and “essential” for the world to move off of fossil fuels.
“One statement gets taken out of context with misrepresentation and misinterpretation — that gets maximum coverage,” he said during a press conference.
Al-Jaber said the world must shave global emissions 43 percent this decade to have a chance at hitting the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal. On that point, he said he thought he had been “crystal clear.”
“Let me just clarify where I stand on the science — I hope this time it gets picked up,” he stressed. “I am quite surprised at the constant attempt to undermine this message.”
Jim Skea, who chairs the authoritative climate science body the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also defended al-Jaber during the press conference. Seated to the COP president’s left, Skea said al-Jaber has been “attentive” through one-on-one meetings about the science.
Still, al-Jaber is facing ongoing criticism for failing to address the UAE’s own rise in oil production. ADNOC may drill 42 percent more by 2030, according to recent projections.
Speaking to POLITICO, Kerry agreed that the UAE must “cut [oil and gas production], and everybody needs to be reducing supply and demand.”
U.S. oil production, of course, also hit an all-time high this year.
Al-Jaber has staked his credibility on acting as a pragmatic broker between climate negotiators and the oil and gas industry, where he is a major player. Over the weekend he revealed the fruits of that work: an alliance of 50 companies pledging to reduce their emissions.
But on Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres pooh-poohed the effort. “The promises made clearly fall short of what is required,” he said, noting the failure to address emissions from later burning the industry’s oil and gas.
“Integrity really matters,” said Guterres. “So there must be no room for greenwashing. And this also applies to what has been announced yesterday.”
You can listen to the full interview with John Kerry on Power Play on Thursday.
Karl Mathiesen contributed reporting.