Is it an irony or a paradox, or both? Whatever the description, it is certainly a spectacular example. Some will claim that it is an equally spectacular example of hypocrisy. The United Arab Emirates, founded on wealth – spectacular wealth – from fossil fuels is holding the latest COP in Dubai. Appalled, the “Just Stop Oil” fanatics have tried to dismiss the whole affair as an irrelevance.
Yet they could not be more wrong. This will turn out to be a useful summit, because of its realism. From the outset, the organisers made it clear that fossil fuels will be needed for the indefinite future. Renewables: fine. More efficient use of energy: ditto. A threefold increase in nuclear power: admirable. But the oil-wells and the gas fields will stay in production.
