Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chairman of this year's United Nations (UN) climate summit, said there was “no science” behind calls to ditch fossil fuels to counter global warming, according to The Guardian.

Al Jaber also said that getting rid of fossil fuels would not allow for sustainable economic growth “unless you want to take the world back to the caves”. seconds in The Guardian. He made the remarks during an exchange with Mary Robinson, president of the Elders Group and former UN special envoy for climate change, during a virtual event held on November 21.

“There is no science or any scenario that says phasing out fossil fuels will be what will achieve 1.5,” Al Jaber told Robinson, referring to the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold for an increase in global average temperatures that many scientists and activists point to as critical to stay below, according to The Guardian.

“Please help me, show me the road map for phasing out fossil fuels that allows for sustainable socio-economic development, unless you want to return the world to caves,” Al Jaber told Robinson, according to The Guardian.

Al Jaber's comments drew the ire of other UN officials, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and climate activists, who are calling for a much stronger international effort to ditch fossil fuels and change the global economy to rely on green energy generation, according to The Guardian.

Al Jaber's presidency has also sparked other controversies as he heads the Emirates state-owned renewables company and the state-owned oil and gas giant. Filtered documents showed that Emirati officials planned to use COP28-related meetings to discuss potential deals involving the two companies with foreign officials, and separate documents revealed how the companies seen Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry as a key player in efforts to ensure its future financial success.

Despite Al Jaber's comments and appearances of potential conflicts of interest, the conference he is overseeing has resulted in several important developments. For example, several developed countries in the world, including the US, committed hundreds of millions of dollars combined with a de facto international “weather repairs”, and American officials approved a new set of methane emissions regulations that could severely impact the nation's oil and gas industry.

The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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