Saudi Arabia accused of trying to wreck Paris climate deal

Saudi Arabia stood accused on Tuesday of trying to wreck the Paris climate summit in order to protect its future as one of the world’s largest oil producers.

As the talks entered the home stretch, developing country negotiators and campaigners became increasingly vocal in their complaints that the kingdom was getting in the way of a deal.

“They are seeing the writing on the wall,” said Wael Hmaidan , director of Climate Action Network, the global campaign group. “The world is changing and it’s making them very nervous.”

Those concerns about the future for an economy almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels was reflected in the negotiations, other observers said.

“Anything that would increase ambition or fast forward this energy transition that is already taking place is something that they try to block,” Hmaidan said.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Until it was eclipsed by the US, the Saudi kingdom was the world’s largest oil producer and currently ranks as the 10th largest polluter, according to Enerdata .

Saudi Arabia has long played a high-profile presence at annual climate summits operating from the luxuriously appointed pavillions of the Gulf Co-operation Council – and over the years has regularly been accused of blocking action on climate change.

In the run-up to the Paris summit, however, the kingdom adopted a more amenable posture. Last month it delivered a plan to fight climate change, pledging a “significant deviation” in emissions, but was the last G20 country to submit its offer to the United Nations, and analysts described the targets as opaque.

Last May, Ali al-Naimi acknowledged the global economy was moving away from fossil fuels – and said that Saudi Arabia was prepared to move with it.

“In Saudi Arabia, we recognise that eventually, one of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels. I don’t know when, in 2040, 2050 or thereafter,” he said.