Abdulaziz bin Salman: Countries Lagging Behind Should Follow Our Approach

The Minister of Energy addressing the audience in a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Islamic Development Bank Group. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said that the Kingdom ranks second in terms of the lowest intensity of carbon dioxide emissions, and the same place for methane emissions.
“Our issue is not recognizing the existence of the problem of climate change, but rather how to deal with it in a fair and direct manner, taking into account the differences in national circumstances in countries”, said the Minister.
His remarks came Tuesday during a panel discussion entitled, Security, the Future of Energy and Sustainable Development, on the sidelines of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Islamic Development Bank Group.
He added that countries have unanimously agreed to the Paris Climate Agreement, “but the real problem does not lie in the text of the agreement, but rather in the strange interpretation of its content.”
The discussion on climate change must be realistic and logical to enable all parties to cooperate and confront this global issue, Prince Abdulaziz underlined, saying that energy security cannot be sacrificed in favor of climate change, and vice versa, indicating that governments have a moral responsibility to provide the elements of growth for future generations.
The minister stressed that the issue of inequality was the reason for the faltering of climate change negotiations, referring to the Sharm El-Sheikh and Dubai summits, which he said contributed to mending this gap and dealing with climate change with realism.
He pointed to some hypocrisy in the discourse regarding the distribution of responsibilities towards climate change, noting that it is not possible to ask countries such as Indonesia, which suffers from energy scarcity, or Nigeria, Ghana, or Madagascar, to switch to renewable energy, at a time when they are facing difficulties in obtaining electricity.
During his speech, the Saudi minister referred to a recent statistic, which gives OPEC countries a historical responsibility of 4 percent for carbon dioxide emissions, while the United States bears 24 percent, China approximately 22 percent, and the European Union 16 percent.
“So why should we receive lectures about reducing our emissions,” he asked, noting that countries “lagging behind should follow our approach.”