We must reflect the needs of the developing world to tackle climate change - Majid Jafar

Global decision-makers must reflect the needs of the developing world and enable countries in the region to transition to a lower-carbon world if we are to make a real impact on carbon emissions and Climate Change, Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, told an audience of business leaders and policymakers at the World Economic Forum Sustainable Impact Development Summit on Tuesday.?

“The developing world, particularly Asia and next Africa, is where the growth is, where emissions are rising, and where energy demand is rising along with population. If they don’t have the help in transitioning [to a lower carbon economy] they’ll be burning more coal and more liquid fuels, and emissions will only keep rising as a result.”

Mr Jafar was speaking on a panel entitled Sustainable Solutions for the Middle East and North Africa. He was joined by Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment of Egypt, Hasan al Jabri, CEO of Sedco Holding, and Rumaitha al Busaidi, an alumnus of the Global Shapers Community.

Rather than focusing on eliminating hydrocarbons, a more effective strategy is to encourage cleaner more efficient use, he said. “Oil will still be needed even if we have a world with all-electric cars. In fact, the fastest-growing demand for oil is in making things: most of what we have relied on during the COVID pandemic, from masks to sanitizers, to the screens we’re now using, to every single vaccine using glycol as a stabilizing agent, needs the petroleum sector. But it's about how we use it [that matters] and about how to use use it cleaner.”

Mr. Jafar highlighted that policymakers must elevate the region’s issues to ensure sustainability is made relevant to people’s lives.

“If you’re in the Western world [SDG13] is the only one of the 17 SDGs that touches your life. But if you’re in a developing country most or all the SDGs affect you: poverty, hunger, health, education. In our region we have half the world’s refugees, we have the most violent conflicts, we have the highest youth unemployment…. so if you tell a refugee in a camp who is just escaping war that the biggest security risk for him is climate change 30 years from now, it will simply not resonate.”