Future of Fossil Fuels at Stake in Homestretch of Climate Talks
DUBAI—Fossil-fuel producers are fighting an existential battle here in the final stretch of the United Nations climate conference against countries that want to end the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Europe and a handful of nations on the front lines of climate change are demanding that a final agreement at the conference, known as COP28, include a phase out of fossil fuels.
One option in a draft of the agreement circulating on Friday evening calls for “a phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science." “I want COP28 to mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels," Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union’s climate commissioner, said Friday. They are facing off against big oil producers led by Saudi Arabia, and backed by Western oil-and-gas companies that have sent dozens of executives to the conference to argue against a phase out.
Some want no mention of reducing fossil-fuel burning in the conclusions of the conference, which is set to end Tuesday. Others are calling for phasing out fossil-fuel burning in power plants and other facilities that lack equipment for capturing and storing the resulting carbon-dioxide emissions, according to the draft text, a position endorsed by the Biden administration at a summit of the Group of Seven advanced economies this year.
That technology, known as carbon capture and storage, is still in its infancy and would need to be scaled up massively to make a dent in global emissions. “It’s really about the emissions.
It’s not about the fuel source," said Vicki Hollub, president and chief executive of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum. After negotiations Friday night, European officials said they were facing stiff opposition from the Organization of the Petroleum
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