Saudi Arabia a Saboteur at COP26
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Climate negotiation veterans accuse Saudi Arabia of being a saboteur at the UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud speaks at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit, in Glasgow.
During the UN climate talks, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister expressed shock at repeated complaints that the world’s largest oil producer is working behind the scenes to sabotage negotiations.
"What you have been hearing is a false allegation, and a cheat and a lie," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al Saud said this week at the talks in Glasgow, Scotland.
He responded to claims that accused Saudi Arabia’s negotiators of attempting to block climate measures that would threaten oil demand.
"We have been working well with the head of the UN climate talks and others," Prince Abdulaziz said.
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries are coming up against a weekend deadline to find consensus on the following steps to cut down the world’s fossil fuel emissions and otherwise combat climate change.
Yet Saudi Arabia’s participation in climate is itself incongruous --- a kingdom that has become wealthy and powerful because of oil, involved in negotiations where the core issue resides in reducing consumption of oil and other fossil fuels.
However, Saudi leaders were clear about their intentions to pump and sell their oil as long as demand remains.
Climate negotiation veterans claim that Saudi Arabia's team in Glasgow are introducing proposals that are nothing but complex efforts to play country factions against one another and to block agreement on critical steps to wrench the world away from coal, gas, and oil.
Saudi Arabia has been a spoiler in the climate talks, and this year it is the main country singled out so far by negotiators, speaking privately, and observers, speaking publicly.
