The statements made by the United Arab Emirates Minister of Industry and the Chairman of the COP28 summit have generated anger. Indeed, on Sunday, the President noticed statements made in response to a question by Mary Robinson, representative of the United Nations on 21 November, in which he said that there is no scientific evidence that the decline in the use of fossil fuels guarantees sustainable development. Many accuse him of “joining negationist approaches.”

The minister gave an interview in the project Women change the climate. Robinson clearly said: “Women and children are the sectors hardest hit by this crisis and this is because they have not yet committed to withdrawing fossil fuels…” In this regard, COP28 indicated that it could resolve this and that such a decision would give it “credibility”. Al-Jaber's response surprised: “I am not in a position to confirm the alarmist statements. There is no science to show that abandoning fossil fuels will lead us not to exceed the 1.5 degrees limit.”

However, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that he disagreed with Al-Jaber’s statements: “Science is clear: only if we stop using fossil fuels completely can we get the temperature rise to be limited to 1.5 degrees. It is not enough to restrict use, but to discard them with specific expiry dates”: