The energy crisis caused by rising international fossil fuel prices has encouraged the oil industry to come off the ropes in climate change negotiations at the UN. According to Bloomberg, industry representatives want the presidencies of the upcoming Climate Conferences – COP27, scheduled for November in Sharm el-Sheik (Egypt), and COP28, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next year – to give a more favorable space for their participation in the conversations on energy transition.

The appeal is resonating among the future hosts of the climate negotiations. "Oil producers felt unwanted at COP26, they felt trapped," said UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei. "Now we're like superheroes." Unlike in Glasgow last year, egypt's government has already signalled that it does not intend to bar sponsorship of companies linked to the fossil fuel industry for COP27. Another unencouraging sign is the proximity of the Egyptians to the notoriously trouble-causing government of Saudi Arabia in climate COPs.

Oil-producing countries want to take advantage of the cue to reposition the issue of energy transition in poor nations. For them, a fair transition cannot deprive these poor countries of taking advantage of their hydrocarbon resources; at the same time, any demand for additional action from these countries in the adoption of renewable sources would depend on direct financial and technological support from wealthy governments.

This cut-out of the climate justice debate solemnly ignores a serious problem in these countries: authoritarianism. While these governments advocate more flexible approaches to the energy transition, they impose obstacles to the active participation of the population in the discussion and definition of public policies for climate. In practice, as Bill McKibben noted in the Guardian, these autocracy try at all costs to maintain the only element of strength they have in the global market  – its vast reserves of oil, gas and coal. "Putin's grotesque war," McKibben wrote, "highlights the ways in which fossil fuel builds autocracies and the power that control of scarce supplies gives autocrats."

In time: European Union and OPEC representatives met in Vienna on Monday (4/11) to discuss ways to stabilize prices amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and international sanctions against the Putin government. The conversation ended without progress: while The Europeans asked oil-producing countries to expand their production to facilitate the replacement of Russian fuels, the cartel argued that it would not be able to increase production of this magnitude. OPEC has resisted pressure from the United States and other countries to increase production. The news is from the Reuters.

Source: clima info