Saudi Arabia's lead climate negotiator told the BBC yesterday that his country was "satisfied" with the results of the Copenhagen climate talks last month, even though the resulting agreement was widely criticised for not mandating firm reductions in global carbon emissions.
The Kingdom has come under heavy criticism from environmental groups and many political leaders, who say its aim has been to prevent a global agreement on climate change at all costs.
Saudi officials reject those allegations, but they have emphasised that a global effort to curb fossil fuel use as part of a climate agreement could have far-reaching effects on the Saudi economy.
The Saudis claim they want to play a positive role in the negotiating
process, but Mohammad al Sabban, the Saudi negotiator, kicked off the
Copenhagen talks by questioning the strength of the science supporting
climate change. Mr al Sabban kept a low profile at the two-week summit
after those initial remarks, which were met with angry reactions across
the world.
Mr al Sabban yesterday indicated that a general political accord
reached at the summit incorporated the interests of oil producers.
"I would like to express our satisfaction with the outcome," he wrote
in an e-mail to BBC News. "We were among the 25 or so countries who
positively negotiated the accord along with the world leaders, and we
had succeeded in including the interest of OPEC countries in the
Copenhagen Accord."