The OPEC chief and ministers from major African oil producing countries are defending investments in fossil fuels, saying Africa’s development needs were being overlooked in the global drive towards decarbonisation.

Africa accounts for less than 3% of global carbon emissions while some 600 million Africans have no access to electricity, they said, arguing that investments in the continent’s natural resources should go forward.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo told an energy conference in Nigeria that it would be a tragedy of unimaginable proportions if despite billions of dollars being poured into investments for these resources, these went west as stranded assets.

His comments came as the latest report from the United Nations climate science panel warned that half the world’s population was vulnerable to dangerous climate impacts and drastic action was necessary.

But resource-rich developing nations have often pushed back against calls for a rapid move away from fossil fuels, arguing that they have not had the time to benefit economically from the fuels and that they are not to blame for the bulk of emissions.

Timipre Sylva, oil minister of Nigeria, the continent’s top oil producer, said the wider world should support a drive to develop African natural gas production, which he described as green energy and the only way to ramp up electricity output.

While drillers and some governments argue that gas burns much cleaner than oil or coal, climate scientists disagree, citing mounting research that the gas industry is responsible for significant emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Sylva’s counterpart from Equatorial Guinea, a big oil exporter, suggested that if any oil majors were to pull out of any hydrocarbon projects, they should hand them over to local authorities.