Saudi Arabia Derails Paris Climate Talks

Saudi Arabia is blocking popular agreements at the Paris climate talks, causing increasing frustration and spurring claims that the oil-rich nation is not taking the conference seriously.

“It is unacceptable for developing countries, like my own, to be asked to participate in this so called ratchet mechanism,” a Saudi delegate reportedly said Tuesday. The “ratchet” mechanism is a proposal for countries to submit and carry out increasingly ambitious plans every five years to tackle climate change.

Over 100 governments, including the United States, China and India, agreed to do their best to cap the global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. However, the Saudis have rejected that target too.

The 1.5 goal is defended by a three-year scientific review, and experts warn that even 2 degrees Celsius would endanger the lives of 1.5 million people, mostly in developing nations. Still, Saudi Arabia was not alone in questioning the study.

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As the world’s largest producer of oil up until this year, Saudi Arabia has relied almost exclusively on oil for its economy and domestic energy consumption. With domestic pressure to diversify its energy, it pledged—without setting any targets—that it would work to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the kingdom has repeatedly tried to block proposals to lower dependence on fossil fuels. It is also opposed to periodic reviews of countries’ progress on their climate plans.

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“Anything that would increase ambition or fast forward this energy transition that is already taking place is something that they try to block,” Wael Hmaidan, director of Climate Action Network, told The Guardian.

Poorer nations are set to lose the most from the obstruction: saying it has “too many other priorities,” Saudi Arabia has also refused to contribute to a collective fund to help mitigate the effects of climate change on developing nations. Rather than pay up, delegates argued they should get paid themselves to fund a move away from oil to green alternatives.