Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 president-designate and UAE's Special Envoy for Climate Change, talks during the Climate Future Week at Museum of the Future in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sept 30, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

MADRID / ABU DHABI - Spain's Energy Minister Teresa Ribera has warned that talks at the COP28 climate summit will be "challenging" as she opened a gathering of energy ministers and climate leaders from around the world in Madrid.

Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, is pushing for an international coalition to back the 2015 Paris deal's target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

At the COP28 conference, countries will assess how efforts to tackle climate changing are falling short of the Paris agreement goal and discuss plans to get on track.

Ahead of COP28, countries remain divided between those demanding a deal to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, and nations that insist on preserving a role for coal, oil and natural gas

There are five conditions for the upcoming summit to be considered successful, the International Energy Agency Chief Fatih Birol said. These include tripling global capital expenditure on renewables, a doubling of energy efficiency improvements and an agreement on mechanisms to support clean energy financing in emerging countries.

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Global coal, oil and natural gas consumption may peak before 2030, he added.

More than 20 oil and gas companies had positively answered calls to align around net zero by 2050, to eliminate methane emissions and stop routine flaring by 2030, COP28 president-designate Sultan al-Jaber said. He did not elaborate.

Jaber, who is also head of United Arab Emirates oil giant ADNOC, has this year urged the energy industry to join the fight against climate change.

"We need a system-wide holistic transformation of entire economies - economies that currently run on the equivalent of 250 million barrels of oil, gas, and coal every single day," Jaber said at an oil and gas conference in Abu Dhabi.

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"For too long, this industry has been viewed as part of the problem, that it's not doing enough and in some cases even blocking progress. This is your opportunity to show the world that, in fact, you are central to the solution," he said, addressing major energy companies.

The COP28 summit is scheduled to take place in Dubai between Nov 30 and Dec 12.

Ahead of COP28, countries remain divided between those demanding a deal to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, and nations that insist on preserving a role for coal, oil and natural gas.

Major oil and gas company chiefs held meetings with heavy industry bosses on Sunday in the UAE to discuss a decarbonization commitment ahead of COP28.