Saudi Arabia dismisses 'false allegations' of sabotaging climate talks at COP26

At United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26, Saudi Arabia expressed shock at repeated complaints that the world’s largest oil producer is working on sabotaging the negotiations behind the scenes. As per The Associated Press report, Saudi’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud showcased the tightest of smiles on his face as he strode through the hallway of the climate talks taking place in Glasgow, Scotland. He dismissed the allegations as “false” and “cheat” and a “lie”.

“What you have been hearing is a false allegation, and a cheat and a lie,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud said while responding to journalists asking for a response to the claims that Saudi Arabia’s negotiators were working to block climate measures that would ultimately decrease oil demand. He also said, “we have been working well” with the head of UN climate talks among others. 

Saudi Arabia allegedly hindering talks on oil cuts

Abdulaziz’s remarks came as negotiators from around 200 nations are trying to come up against a weekend deadline to find consensus on the next steps to reduce the world’s fossil fuel emissions and tackle the climate crisis. AP noted that Saudi Arabia’s participation in climate talks itself can seem incongruous as the kingdom became wealthy and powerful due to oil being involved in negotiations. While committing to the efforts of emissions-cutting efforts at home, Saudi leaders have also made it clear that they intend to both pump and sell their oil as long as global demand lasts. 

Saudi Arabia’s team introduced proposals ranging from a call to abandon the talks and they often stretch into early morning hours at 6 PM each day. However, reportedly, climate negotiations veterans allege are kingdom’s complex efforts to play country factions against one another with the goal of blocking agreement on definite steps to move the world away from coal, gas and oil. 

As per AP, Jennifer Tollmann, an analyst at E3G, a European climate think tank has said that it is “Saudis’ proposal, by the way. They’re like, let’s just not work at nights and just accept that this is not going to be ambitious” when it comes to fast cuts in fossil fuel pollution which is destroying the climate. 

(IMAGE: AP)