The president of the UN COP28 climate conference said he sees a future for fossil fuels - even as scientists say the world must move quickly to clean energy - in remarks that sparked fears of a backsliding on climate commitments. Sultan Al Jaber, who will oversee the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai in November, called for a focus on technologies to capture planet-warming pollution from coal, oil and gas. "We know that fossil fuels will continue to play a role in meeting global energy requirements for the foreseeable future," Al Jaber said Wednesday at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, a conference attended by representatives from about 40 countries to help set the COP28 agenda. He said the world needed to "face some realities" and embrace an energy transition that included "all energy sources". "Our goal should be to ensure the gradual reduction of emissions from all sectors," added Al Jaber. It is a departure from what other countries have called for. In March, European countries agreed to support the global phase-out of fossil fuels in a text setting out their priorities for COP28. "The move to a climate-neutral economy will require a global phase-out of non-renewable fossil fuels," the text says. More than 80 countries backed a pledge to phase out oil, coal and gas at COP27 in Egypt last year, but Saudi Arabia and other oil and gas-producing countries opposed it. Tasneem Essop, executive director of the Climate Action Network, an alliance of environmental groups, told CNN that Al Jaber was talking about the "foreseeable future of fossil fuels" and "the trajectory of emissions reductions." "A plan to end the fossil fuel era should be central to the discussions and outcomes of COP28," she said. Nils Bartsch, head of oil and gas research at the German non-profit Urgewald, told CNN that the world faces "an absolute carbon budget of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Reducing the emissions intensity of oil and gas extraction doesn't change that – it just helps drain our budget a little more slowly.” Scientists said the world should do its utmost to keep below 1.5 degrees of global warming above pre-industrial levels, and nations they work to keep this goal within reach at annual climate summits. (Laura Paddison , CNN)