Excerpt and Photo from www.france24.com

Money pledges were in the spotlight at COP28 in Dubai on Monday as delegates turned their focus to the yawning gap in how much climate finance is needed and what’s on tap, particularly for developing countries that need funds each year just to adapt to the warming world.

Saudi Arabia says ‘absolutely not’ to oil phaseout at COP28

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has slammed the door shut on agreeing to phase out fossil fuels at the UN’s COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in Dubai.

A tentative “phasedown/out” was included in a first draft of an agreement on climate action that delegates are haggling over during talks that are scheduled to finish on December 12.

But Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, a half-brother of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, would not agree. “Absolutely not,” he said in an interview in Riyadh.