Saudi energy minister hones plea to target carbon emission; not oil and gas

Saudi Arabia's energy minister has renewed a plea for the world to take an energy-agnostic approach to curb climate-harming greenhouse gases rather than shunning oil and gas, calling on those calling for an end to fossil fuels to show their "true colors".

Global leaders should leave room for carbon-abated oil and gas production under future energy scenarios by using technology such as carbon capture and storage, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said while speaking to the World Economic Forum on an energy transition panel.

"We are all trying to congregate around the idea of reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases," bin Salman told the panel. "We have to be honest about; are we really trying to achieve that goal or are we trying to take that hope as a pretext to ... get rid of hydrocarbons ... I really would like to see the true colors of everybody," he added.

Reiterating previous comments around the need for future global oil and gas supplies to be decarbonized rather than sidelined, bin Salman said countries should "choose their own fitting choice based on their natural national resources and national abilities."

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is seeking to reduce its emissions while at the same time boosting its oil production capacity to cater to an expected rise in global crude demand over the coming decade.

Last year it unveiled plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 but the targets only apply to the country's domestic emissions and do not cover greenhouse gases released from the use of its oil outside its territory.

In December, the Saudi energy minister highlighted the risk of an "energy crisis" this decade if there is not enough spending to sustain necessary oil and gas supplies.

His comments also come a day after the UAE, OPEC's third-biggest producer, said climate talks during COP28 -- to be held in the UAE in 2023 -- should include input from oil and gas experts because the world can not unplug suddenly from the current energy system.

Domestic roadmaps

Bin Salman has been vocal in his criticism of the International Energy Agency's landmark net-zero energy roadmap outlined in May 2021, calling it a "La La Land scenario" given the impact on the future demand for oil.

The report sparked controversy after calling for no new upstream oil and gas projects to be developed in order to meet climate goals by 2050. In order to slash carbon emissions to net-zero over the next three decades, global oil supplies would need to shrink more than 8% annually, down to 24 million b/d in 2050, from pre-pandemic levels of just above 100 million b/d, the IEA report concluded.

Also speaking on the World Economic Forum panel, the IEA's head Fatih Birol defended the net-zero roadmap, saying the transition away from oil, gas, and coal needs to be achieved in addition to carbon abatement technologies in order to meet Paris climate targets on global warming.

"We did not say it is easy ... to go from 80% of the energy coming from fossil fuels today to net-zero emissions by 2050 requires a Herculean effort ... very, very difficult but it's not impossible," Birol said.

"Without fixing the problem in the energy sector, we have no chance whatsoever to fix our [climate] problems."

Birol said, since releasing the scenario last year, many governments including India, Chile, Indonesia, South Africa, and in Europe have asked the energy watchdog to develop net-zero reports tailored for their specific domestic energy needs, adding "we are working for the various countries to prepare their domestic roadmaps."