Al Gore calls Saudi climate veto power 'insane'

Former US vice president Al Gore called for major reforms to UN climate negotiations, saying at the COP31 summit in Antalya that it was “literally insane” for an oil-producing country such as Saudi Arabia to be able to block global climate action.

Gore told AFP that the talks should move away from consensus-based decision-making and adopt a supermajority model. He said there was growing support for changing the system.

Gore also accused Saudi Arabia of trying to sabotage the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's climate science panel. The Saudi government did not immediately comment.

Nearly 200 nations agreed at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels. Gore said that language remained part of the agreed climate framework, even though COP30 in Brazil ended without an explicit mention of fossil fuels in the final agreement.

Gore said US President Donald Trump's approach had emboldened large polluters after the United States skipped UN climate talks and pulled out of the Paris Agreement following Trump's return to office in 2025.

Turkey, the COP31 host, is promoting a voluntary pledge to boost electrification of transport, buildings and industry. Gore welcomed the initiative but said it should be tied to using clean energy as much as possible.