Speaking to a gathering of climate Ministers in Berlin, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climate envoy Sultan Al-Jaber recently said that “in a pragmatic, just and well-managed energy transition, we must be laser focused on phasing out fossil fuel emissions while phasing and scaling up viable, affordable zero-carbon alternatives.” To date the negotiation language has focused on phasing out all fossil fuels as opposed to phasing out just their emissions. This has led Climate Home to suggest that the UAE is teeing up a debate between governments over the role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the fight against climate change. Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the US have indicated support for the technology whilst the EU views it as a more of a last resort because it views it as unproven and expensive.
