Dubai, UAE

Sultan Al Jaber, President of the COP28 Climate Summit, who is also chief executive of United Arab Emirates' oil and gas company, has said that the company will continue to invest in oil and gas production while co-ordinating "transition away" from fossil fuels.

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Al Jaber told The Guardian that Adnoc, the oil and gas company, will have to respond to demand for fossil fuels.

Watch | COP28 nations unite for fossil fuel phase-out

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“My approach is very simple: it is that we will continue to act as a responsible, reliable supplier of low-carbon energy, and the world will need the lowest-carbon barrels at the lowest cost,” said Al Jaber as quoted by The Guardian in a report published on Friday (Dec 15).

“At the end of the day, remember, it is the demand that will decide and dictate what sort of energy source will help meet the growing global energy requirements,” 

While speaking with the news outlet, Al Jaber cited a finding from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which said that a small amount of fossil fuels will be needed even in 2050, despite reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

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Need for net-zero

The net-zero level needs to be reached in order to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Al Jaber claimed that the investment into oil and gas is viable enough to be contributive towards containing the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Also Read | Global oil demand faces sharp slowdown as economic woes bite, IEA warns

“The world continues to need low-carbon oil and gas and low-cost oil and gas,” he said. “When the demand stops, that’s a completely different story. What we need to do right now is to decarbonise the current energy system, while we build the new energy system.”

Adnoc has planned for USD 150 billion investment in oil and gas over next seven years. During this time, the current production levels would be maintained and there won't be an increase in output, said Al Jaber. 

Also Read | COP28 Breakthrough: World unites to shift from fossil fuels in historic climate accord

“We have the fifth largest oil reserves in the world but we are not harnessing these resources,”

The COP28 Summit ended on Wednesday. The summit yielded a global agreement to “contribute to … transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”