US president’s skepticism does not bode well for COP26

The world leaders arrived, put their heads together, and gave their speeches at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26. But there is a note of skepticism in Glasgow that threatens to derail any potential deal when the final communique comes to be written at the end of next week.

The skepticism does not come just from the activist protesters who have gathered outside the Scottish Exhibition Centre to voice their concerns about climate change. These mainly young people from European countries have taken an ideological stance that will settle for nothing less than a complete ban on what they regard as evil fossil fuels and will not listen to any other argument that contradicts that position.

It comes also from several people you would expect would know better. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was skeptical about the motivation of some of the countries represented at the event, implying that certain unnamed participants were not being sincere in the targets they have set to combat climate change, in terms of net-zero deadlines and new goals in nationally determined contributions. He did not name names.

President Joe Biden showed no such restraint. In a pre-COP26 briefing to media after the G20 failed to come up with anything meaningful on climate change, the US leader called for more action.

“We’ve made significant progress and more has to be done. But it’s going to require us to continue to focus on what Russia’s not doing, what China’s not doing, what Saudi Arabia’s not doing.”

This cynicism about the motivation of fellow participants at COP26 displays a level of ignorance you would not expect from the “leader of the free world.”

For Saudi Arabia’s part, the Kingdom has committed to the most profound change in energy policy in its history. A target of net-zero by 2060 and big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 are radical moves for the biggest oil exporter in the world.

The US president comes to COP26 with big environmental credentials and a leading role in the campaign to control global warming and mitigate climate change.

Frank Kane

The Saudi position is much more nuanced than Biden credits it. Of course, as an economy that derives the vast bulk of its gross domestic product from the oil industry, it has to ensure that hydrocarbon revenue keeps flowing in order to guarantee it has the resources to maintain and advance the living standards of citizens and residents.

It also needs that revenue to fund the transition to cleaner forms of fuels that will play a vital role in the future energy mix of the Kingdom. By 2030, oil will not be used anymore in domestic power production, which instead will be fueled by renewable sources like wind and solar and an equal proportion of natural gas. President Biden should know all this.

However, the fact that he too adopted a skeptical stance is not surprising. The Biden administration’s stance on energy matters has been cynical ever since he took office. Indebted to the left wing of the Democrat party, he has pursued an environmentally friendly agenda that has kept the shackles on the domestic US energy sector, especially the oil industry.

Despite crude oil prices nearing the $90-a-barrel mark, US shale producers are still not ramping up production. When Biden calls on OPEC+ to increase oil output to get prices lower, he should put his own house in order first by encouraging the domestic industry to get back some of the production they lost in the great pandemic recession of 2020.

The US president comes to COP26 with big environmental credentials and a leading role in the campaign to control global warming and mitigate climate change. A little less skepticism might persuade the rest of the world to follow his lead.

• Frank Kane is an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai.

Twitter: @frankkanedubai