In the next UN Climate Summit OPEC+ delegates must not back down

In his December 6^th letter, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais urged OPEC+ members to reject proposals at COP28 that targeted fossil fuels. Al Ghais wrote:

It seems that the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences, as the draft decision still contains options on fossil fuels phase out.

He asked OPEC+ delegations at COP28 to "proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions."

Good. That is exactly what they should do.

There was another time during the conference when an OPEC representative spoke with courage and common sense about the issue. Hasan Alhamadi, the OPEC Secretariat's head of public relations, also a support services manager with Kuwait Petroleum International, replied to an activist concerned about wildfires, "This has nothing to do with oil. How does it have to do with oil?"

Alhamadi was also right when he told another youth delegate who asked whether oil is the only energy solution, "Right now, yes…Give me an alternative…[solar] is too expensive for people, and no one would like to invest there."

Without huge government subsidies, solar is far too expensive, not to mention unreliable and environmentally damaging.

Predictably, climate hawks went ballistic over the statements from Al Jaber, Al Ghais and Alhamadi. However, rather than scare them away from their responsible positions, it should have told these OPEC leaders they should double down on their pro-fossil fuel statements.

World War II Lancaster bomber pilot Sandy Mutch, who passed away at the age of 98 on April 15, 2018, saidin 2013, "On bombing raids over Europe, we could tell we were closing in on the target when we started to get the most flak."

That was because important German assets were often surrounded by anti-aircraft guns that filled the sky with AAA fire. Rather than being deterred by the resistance, it told Bomber Command exactly where the next wave of aircraft should concentrate their attack.

Mutch, who held a Master of Science degree from the University of Toronto (1951), concluded:

Anyone who wants to kill the dangerous and unfounded climate scare … should focus on exposing the shaky science behind climate alarm. That is the Achilles heel of the whole movement. Shoot it down and you win the war!

But apparently even OPEC are not yet that serious about actually winning the climate war. Or perhaps they are hoping the whole mess collapses of its own weight as the public begins to rebel when the costs of draconian climate and energy policies finally hit home. Or maybe they plan to try to take advantage of the rather large loopholes in the UN statement. But they are taking a dangerous gamble as much damage can be done in the meantime to the world's most important energy sources.

Readers will be glad to hear that COP29 will be held next year in oil-rich Azerbaijan, an OPEC+ member, and COP30 in 2025 will be held in Brazil, also an OPEC+ member and one of the largest oil producers in the world. Let's hope OPEC+ countries up their game and fight to win next time!