At a panel discussion on Monday at the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais stated that insisting that oil must remain underground will not bring about an energy transition but rather energy instability.

Al-Ghais stated, “We don’t think that demonizing [the] industry is a constructive approach.”

The UN climate conference, known as COP28, began on November 30 in Dubai and will continue until December 12.

Sultan al-Jaber formally took over as President of COP28, after Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who presided over the previous round of COP negotiations in Egypt earlier this year.