TheCable

Sanusi Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), says the Paris agreement on climate change should be fair to developing countries.

Speaking at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), Barkindo said the agreement has to be equitable to all.

“In talking about sustainable development, I feel I should also make reference to the ratification of the Paris Agreement only a few days ago,” Barkindo said.

“OPEC welcomes this agreement, and as I am here in the UAE I should like to highlight the fact that the UAE has already ratified it.

“However, we should not forget that the Paris Agreement calls for ‘equity’ for all Parties.  Each country should be allowed to develop in a sustainable manner.  Therefore, it is vital to ensure that less-developed countries have equitable access to development opportunities.”

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, had initially made the same reservations, that the agreement should be fair to countries like Nigeria, in need of fossil fuels for power generation.

Speaking at the World Bank Headquarters last month, the minister said Nigeria needs cheap coal-fired power to drive its industrialisation.

“In Nigeria, we have coal and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what it will take to get coal-fired power. Yet, we are being blocked. I think there is some hypocrisy in that.

“We have an entire western industrialization that was built on coal-fired energy and that is the competitive advantage that has been used to develop Britain, where I grew up.

“Now, Africa wants to do it, and they saying it’s not green, we can’t do and that we should go and do solar, wind, which are the most expensive power projects.”

According to Barkindo and Adeosun, both OPEC and Nigeria, are however committed to a fair implementation of the agreement.