- Oil prices tumble on easing Middle East fears
- Oil prices hit by easing Middle East fears, most Asian markets rise
- Hopes pinned on peace across Taiwan Strait after drills
- Belgian pathologist and literary star gives 'voice to the dead'
- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- Nearly 90, but opera legend Kabaivanska is still calling tune
- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
- Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate
- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
Climate summit needs private sector to succeed: COP28 president
Sultan Al Jaber, Emirates oil executive and president of the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015, has a quick answer when asked when the world will stop burning fossil fuels: when there's enough clean energy to replace them.
"We cannot shut down the energy system of today before we build the new energy system of tomorrow that is equipped with zero-carbon emission sources," said Jaber, head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC.
"We don't want to create an energy crisis."
The phase down of fossil fuels is both "inevitable" and "essential", he said, mindful of calls by some countries for a decision at COP28 to phase out fossil fuels from the global energy mix.
But "I don't have a magic (wand)" as to when that will happen, he told AFP in Brussels, after outlining his action plan and goals for the year-end summit to ministers from European Union nations and China.
There are still 800 million people in the world -- mostly in Africa -- who still do not have electricity, Jaber pointed out, with a global population projected to expand significantly in the next 30 years.
"Even today, there's already a shortage of supply," he added.
Since his appointment as COP28 president at the beginning of this year, Jaber has been under heavy fire from critics saying his position as an oil and gas executive is a conflict of interest because burning fossil fuels is by far the main driver of global warming.
An open letter from around a hundred US and European legislators has called for him to step down.
But Jaber has at the same time received strong endorsements from veteran climate negotiators such as UN Special Envoy John Kerry and UN Climate chief Simon Stiell, formerly a climate minister from Grenada.
Jaber himself rejects the criticisms out-of-hand, pointing to his long experience as a climate negotiator, and his role as head of the government-owned renewable energy company Masdar, which he founded.
"We don't see this as a conflict of interest," he said in the interview.
"Indeed, it is in our common interest to include someone who comes with a business background," noting that he's the first CEO to ever lead a climate COP.
"It gets me motivated to prove to the world that a person with my track record and credentials can provide a completely different set of value propositions through my experience," he added.
M.Davis--CPN