Watch: Cop president defends views on climate science after fossil fuel comments 

The Red Rebels group perform during a demonstration to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis during a march organised by The Climate Coalition in Brussels on Sunday. Picture: Ana Fernandez/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The president of Cop28 has been forced into a fierce defence of his views on climate science, after the Guardian newspaper revealed his comment that there was “no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C”.

Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, Adnoc, said at a hastily arranged press conference at the summit in Dubai: “I respect the science in everything I do. I have repeatedly said that it is the science that has guided the principles or strategy as Cop28 president.