During the United Nations climate talks in Bangkok many nations pled for assistance in cutting down on global warming in their respective countries.  Saudi Arabia was asking for aid of a different kind.

Saudi Arabia had demanded that they, along with other OPEC nations receive financial assistance for the revenues that they will lose when climate initiatives reduce oil dependence.

According to an International Energy Agency report, these countries won’t have too hard of a time as OPEC revenues would still continue to increase by over $23 trillion between 2008 and 2030 even with significant emissions cuts.  This is a four times the amount revenues increased between 1985 and 2007.

Mohammad S. Al Sabban, the head of the Saudi delegation, has claimed that these figures are extremely skewed.  “We are among the economically vulnerable countries,” Al Sabban told The Associates Press. “This is very serious for us,” he continued. “We are in the process of diversifying our economy but this will take a long time. We don’t have too many resources.”

Sabban goes onto say that he believes that Western nations have an ulterior motive behind climate talks and that they are really waging a silent war against oil producing countries.  “Many politicians in the Western world think these climate change negotiations and the new agreement will provide them with a golden opportunity to reduce their dependence on imported oil,” Al Sabban said. “That means you will transfer the burden to developing countries, especially to those highly dependent on the exploitation of oil.”

Arab environmental group IndyACT along with environmental group Germanwatch issued a report stating that they thought Saudi Arabia was holding up negotiations by insisting that a provision be included for oil producing countries.  “Despite the variability in the region, the current Arab position is mainly focused around protecting the oil trade rather than saving the planet form the adverse impacts of climate change,” said Wael Hmaidan, the executive director of IndyACT.

Our Take

Saudi Arabia and other nations whose economy depends almost solely on oil production should receive assistance in branching out their economies in different areas.  They should not, however, just receive a check for money that they could have made.  When oil was trading at almost $150 a barrel, oil consuming nations didn’t receive any kind of subsidy to help out their struggling economies.  The OPEC nations should be actively working toward producing cleaner energy that will be needed in the years to come.