© Reuters. European Commissioner for Climate Action of the European Union Wopke Hoekstra poses for a portrait after an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 9, 2023. REU
By Kate Abnett and Mohammed Benmansour
DUBAI (Reuters) – The European Union’s climate chief on Saturday heavily criticised an attempt by OPEC to derail a COP28 deal on phasing out fossil fuels, calling the move by the oil producers’ club “unhelpful” and “out of whack”.
Nearly 200 countries meeting in Dubai for the U.N.’s COP28 climate summit are debating whether to agree, for the first time, to eventually end the world’s use of fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change.
In an unusual intervention, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais this week urged countries in the OPEC+ group to reject any COP28 deal targeting fossil fuels, in a letter seen by Reuters.
“By many, including by me, that has been seen as out of whack, as unhelpful, as not in tune with where the world stands in terms of the very dramatic situation of our climate,” EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said of the OPEC letter.
“We’re here…
Read the full article here