COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber has opposed more than 100 countries’ demand for a phase-out of fossil fuels, saying that going with such an approach would not allow development, The Guardian reported.

“There is 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,” he said with Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and a former UN special envoy for climate change, at a She Changes Climate live online event on November 21.

Many scientists expressed concerns over Al Jaber’s comments and said that they were at variance with the position held by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change called for capping global warming at well below 2C above the pre-industrial level, and ideally closer to 1.5C.

Over 100 African, European, Pacific and Caribbean countries supported a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels. “The shift towards a climate neutral economy, in line with the 1.5C goal, will require the global phase out of unabated fossil fuels and a peak in their consumption already in this decade,” said a joint statement that was also backed by the US.

On Friday, Guterres told COP28 delegates that science was clear and the 1.5C limit was only possible if the world stopped burning all fossil fuels. “Not reduce, not abate. Phase out, with a clear timeframe,” the UN secretary general said as he reiterated demand for action.

At the event, Robinson said that the world was “in an absolute crisis” because the countries have not yet committed to phasing out fossil fuel. She added that she had read that the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, Adnoc, which is head by Al Jaber was apparently investing in a lot more fossil fuel in the future.

“You’re reading your own media, which is biased and wrong. I am telling you I am the man in charge,” Al Jaber replied.

He asked the chair of the Elders group to show him the roadmap for a phase-out of fossil fuel that would pave the way for sustainable socioeconomic development, “unless you want to take the world back into caves.”

Al Jaber said: “I don’t think [you] will be able to help solve the climate problem by pointing fingers or contributing to the polarisation and the divide that is already happening in the world. Show me the solutions. Stop the pointing of fingers. Stop it.”

Bill Hare, the chief executive of Climate Analytics, took an exception to the COP28’s statement. He was of the view that ‘sending us back to caves’ was the oldest of fossil fuel industry tropes. It was akin to climate denial.

“Al Jaber is asking for a 1.5C roadmap – anyone who cares can find that in the International Energy Agency’s latest net zero emissions scenario, which says there cannot be any new fossil fuel development. The science is absolutely clear [and] that absolutely means a phase-out by mid-century, which will enhance the lives of all of humanity,” he said.