U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday that the U.S. must decrease its energy use to allow developing nations the room to grow, while emphasizing that prosperity doesn't have to come with a large carbon footprint.
"We believe we have to decrease our use of energy to allow headroom for the developing nations to grow their economies," Chu said in a speech in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
"There is no law of physics that says prosperity is proportional to carbon emissions," Chu said.
Chu is visiting the U.A.E. Wednesday as part of a Middle East trip this week that has included a stop in top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and that will take him to Qatar Thursday.
The U.A.E. is one of the world's highest carbon emitters -- and Abu Dhabi is a major oil producer -- but the Gulf nation is committed to diversifying its energy mix and is developing a peaceful nuclear energy program.