Dubai: Countries must remember their promises of the historic Paris climate change agreement, Prince Albert II of Monaco said on Thursday, warning against a price-driven increase in oil consumption.

In an exclusive interview with Gulf News on Thursday, the Prince said it would “send a disastrous message to other countries” if some were to renege on commitments to reduce emissions made just six weeks ago in Paris.

“It would send the wrong message if you commit to some and then turn back and say ‘listen we didn’t think the oil price were going to be this low so we’re going to stick to that part of fossil fuels or that percentage part of the fossil fuels’,” he said at the American University of Dubai.

On December 12, 2015, nearly 200 countries universally agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius with a target of keeping temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

But many parts of the agreement are not legally binding and countries will not come together to ratify it and make it enforceable under international law until 2023.

“No one expected the agreement to be that legally binding and that strict in its formulation,” the Prince said.

But the continued decline in the global oil price has seen costs for many oil importing nations become substantially less than they were a year ago.

This has meant some countries can afford to increase consumption while producers are looking to increase output even in a post Paris Agreement and $30 (Dh110) a barrel oil price market.

Renewables

Prince Albert II, who was in Dubai to address the inaugural Emirates Energy Efficiency Summit, said he suspected that countries “don’t… want to send that kind of message,” especially just after signing agreement.

“If everyone that has agreed to the Paris Agreement wants to meet their targets they are going to have to make renewables part of the equation. There’s no other way out of it,” he said.

The UAE, which is one of the world’s largest energy consumers per capita, is pursuing a long-term goal of producing 3.5 million barrels a day by 2017. It currently produces around 2.8 million barrels a day today. Iran has said once sanctions lifted it would take steps to add as many as 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its production. Sanctions lifted on January 16. Meanwhile, Norway, Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, is planning to increase production in environmentally sensitive areas, including the Arctic.

Prince Albert II admits the low oil price is “somewhat of an obstacle” by making consumption more affordable than renewables. But said that it is up for renewables to become “more attractive” through technological advances to increase the take up rather than wait for the price oil to rise again.

No miracle formula

“We’re not going to do away with fossil fuels right away … but we have to move step by step, and of course, it’s going to take a while. No one said it was going to change overnight. There’s no miracle formula but we have to move towards a lower carbon economy. We don’t have any other choice,”

Prince Albert II also commended the UAE, which is targeting 75 per cent of its energy to come from renewables by 2050, for its commitments that he said, “have shown great leadership.” He also said that it is up to the world’s biggest economies to take the lead on tackling climate change and reducing emissions.

“We cannot hope to have a vision of the future in terms of meeting our commitments if the big powers, large countries and most developed economies of the world don’t follow suit,” he said singling out the United States, China and India.

“We need to act now so that future generations will be able to live on a liveable planet.”