Saudi Arabia claims energy demand exposes hypocrisies

Speaking at the end of the first week of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Saudi’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, said the Ukraine war had “exposed the hypocrisies that have been around for a long time and thatwe have talkedabout foryears”. “People argue that we should reduce oil production. And then . . . you have a crisis and people are demanding thatwe increase oil production. It doesn't work bothways,” said Jubeir. The war has left the EU rushing to replace the fossil fuels no longer coming from Russia, while the US and Saudi ArabiaareatloggerheadsoverWashington’s pleas to the world’s largest oil exporter and the Opec+ oil cartel not to cut production targets. However, the EU and US have continued to emphasise that the return to dirtier fossil fuelsis a short-term reaction to the supply cuts, and they remain committed to accelerating the shift to cleaner energy through various green financing initiatives. President Joe Biden touted his $369bn climate and tax legislation,in particular, on a flying visit to COP27on Friday. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted the Middle East Green Initiative held on the sidelines of COP27 last week with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, but did not deliver a speech with the other world leaders at the plenary. Instead energy minister Abdulaziz Bin Salman al-Saud is due to deliver a statement tomorrow, alongside representatives from Russia andBrazil. The kingdom announced a new carbon capture and storage hub, however, and said its $620bn Public Investment Fund would reach a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. This compares with the Saudi country target of being “carbon neutral” by 2060. The PIF target would be achieved by financing green projects to generate “avoided emissions”, a controversialmeasure, tooffset its actual greenhouse gas emissions. The PIF plan would also use carbon offsets, people familiarwith thematter said. Saudi Arabia did not subscribe to the belief that fossil fuel production and use needed to be drastically reduced in order to meet decarbonisation targets, said Jubeir. The focus should be on all countries cutting emissions and not on specific sectors, heargued. “Theissueisabout bringing down carbon emissions . . . We think the approach that we’re taking, looking at the total package in a comprehensive way, can get us there,” he said.