Annual global climate talks are underway Thursday in Dubai against the backdrop of fractured global unity and concern about the influence of the fossil fuel industry as countries face a narrowing window to divert the planet from its disastrous path.
For the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known this year as COP28, the stakes are high — and so is the controversy, given that the oil-rich United Arab Emirates is serving as host.
Dueling worldviews about the future of fossil fuels came quickly into view Thursday, as COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber — an oil CEO — said he considered the oil and gas industry a partner that can “lead the way” in the energy transition. Moments later, Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told delegates that it was time to “signal the terminal decline of the fossil fuel era as we know it.”
More than 100 world leaders are scheduled to address the gathering Friday and Saturday. The speakers include French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to a list released by the Framework Convention on Climate Change.