Renewables and oil should coexist without posing mortal threat to each other: OPEC

Renewables need petroleum products to thrive, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais in an article penned to mark the beginning of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, in Dubai on Thursday.

Entitled COP28 on the Horizon: Focusing on a Holistic Approach to the Energy System, the article maintains that “a misguided and risky narrative” portrays the oil and renewables industries as competitors “locked in a zero-sum game—the success of one represents a mortal threat to the other.”

In his article, Al Ghais described COP28 as a milestone in the ongoing negotiations on the future of the planet, underscoring the event’s sharpened focus on the role of the oil industry in energy transitions, “whether it should have a seat at the negotiating table or if it has a future at all.”

Al Ghais explained that OPEC rejects the narrative that blames the oil industry for being a handicap to the energy transition because he said the oil industry and renewables do not work in vacuums that are totally shut off from one another.

Citing the example of wind turbines with components of steel, fiberglass, resin or plastic, iron or cast iron, copper, and aluminum, he said, “Renewables need petroleum products.”

“Fibreglass, resin and plastic are all petroleum-derived products. They are essential to the composition of a wind turbine and, as of yet, cannot be substituted for this purpose at scale,” he added.

He also referenced the use of petrochemical products like ethylene used in copolymers that cover the photovoltaics in solar panels, which are made of glass, plastic polymer, aluminum, silicon, copper, less than 0.1% silver, and other metals.

He further elaborated that calcined petroleum coke, the main ingredient in synthetic graphite, is used in lithium-ion batteries found in electric cars.

Despite these inextricable links between the petrochemical and oil industries and the renewable industry, he noted that some prominent voices have called for a halt in oil investments and to only invest in renewables.

Al Ghais described this strategy of calling for wind energy investments while rejecting investments in the materials essential to build wind turbines as a “paradox.”

The OPEC Secretary General said all voices need to be at the table for climate negotiations in Dubai and announced that OPEC will be represented at a pavilion for the first time at the COP meeting.

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)