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. 

"We have always built everything, every step of the way, on the science, on the facts.” 

Al Jaber made the original comments in ill-tempered responses to the former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson during an online event on November 21. 

During the exchange, he also said: “Show me the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.” 

At the press conference, Al Jaber said: “I have incredible respect for Mary Robinson.” 

He added: “I have said over and over the phase-down and the phase-out of fossil fuel is inevitable. In fact, it is essential.” 

More than 100 countries already support a phase-out of “unabated” fossil fuels — those where the resultant emissions are not captured — and whether the final Cop28 agreement calls for this or uses weaker language such as “phase-down” is one of the most fiercely fought issues at the summit. 

The former US vice-president Al Gore said a commitment to phase out fossil fuels would be Cop28’s only measure of success.

Al Jaber said: “I know that there are strong views among some [countries], about the phase-down or phase-out of fossil fuels. Allow me to say this again: this is the first [Cop] presidency ever to actively call on parties to come forward with language on all fossil fuels for the negotiated text.” 

Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021 agreed for the first time to “phase down” coal use.

Mr Al Jaber did not refer to the Guardian story directly, but said: “One statement taken out of context, with misrepresentation and misinterpretation, that gets maximum coverage.” 

The Guardian story contains the full recording of his interaction with Ms Robinson.

“If anything, judge us on what we will deliver at the end [of Cop28],” he said.

The issue of a phase-out or phase-down is complicated by the terms not having agreed definitions and by the highly uncertain role of technologies to “abate” fossil fuel emissions, such as carbon capture and storage, which scientists say can only trap a small percentage of emissions.

Climate scientists who read the transcript described Al Jaber’s comments to Robinson as “incredibly concerning” and “verging on climate denial”. 

They conflict with the view of the UN secretary general António Guterres who told Cop28 delegates on Friday: “The science is clear: the 1.5C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, with a clear timeframe.” 

Prof Johan Rockström, the director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, in Germany, told the Guardian on Sunday: “I cannot see scientifically there being any other communication than that we need to phase out fossil fuels.”

• Guardian