OPEC leaders make case for fossil fuels at Riyadh climate event

OPEC leaders make case for fossil fuels at Riyadh climate event

RIYADH - OPEC heavyweights said on Sunday oil and gas should not be stigmatised in the climate debate and that the industry had a role to play in an orderly energy transition.

Energy ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, the three largest members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), have gathered in the Saudi capital Riyadh for the U.N. MENA climate week.

"The three of us here as major hydrocarbon producers also have a responsibility to the world to provide the transition with enough hydrocarbon resources to make sure we are transitioning at a responsibly priced manner," UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on a panel that grouped the three countries.

The UAE will host the COP28 climate summit scheduled to take place in Dubai between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12.

The summit is an opportunity for governments to try to accelerate action to curb global warming to prevent the most devastating consequences of extreme weather following a year of record temperatures, wildfires and drought.

Reports so far show countries are off track to meet a U.N. target to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to