ANTALYA, TURKEY — Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez told the COP31 climate conference on Thursday that the country has the sovereign right to develop its oil industry, even as it recognises the importance of tackling climate change.
Her comments at the United Nations talks on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast contrasted with efforts by other conference leaders to persuade governments to accelerate the shift away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels. They also align with US efforts to raise billions of dollars to increase oil output in Venezuela, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
“We reaffirm our sovereign right to strengthen our energy and oil industry as a driver of our national development,” Rodriguez told the summit. “It is possible to grow and protect the environment at the same time.”
Rodriguez said Venezuela’s forests acted as a “lung for the planet,” absorbing more carbon than the country emits. She did not address the impact of Venezuelan oil exports on global emissions.
US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from formal climate cooperation last year after calling global warming a hoax, has said investment in Venezuela’s oil sector could strengthen national security by increasing energy supplies in the Western Hemisphere.
Earlier on Thursday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the conference that energy disruptions caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran and Russia’s war in Ukraine showed the need for countries to move from fossil fuels to clean energy.
“It is now plain for everyone to see that if we depend on energy we do not control, then we leave ourselves exposed to prices we cannot control,” Burnham said. “The shift to clean energy is the only route to energy security.”
Thursday marked the fifth day of the two-week COP31 conference, where representatives from nearly 200 countries are seeking agreement on measures to improve global climate action.
A UN report last month found that the world is on course to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that countries agreed to pursue under the 2015 Paris Agreement to prevent the worst effects of climate change.