Small island nations throughout the world are vulnerable to rising sea levels, which is why their representatives called for a study at the climate change talks currently being held in Bonn, Germany. But the effort to examine the challenges and dangers stemming from a 2.7 degree rise in global temperatures was thwarted by the delegation from Saudi Arabia, which blocked the study idea with help from oil-producing nations Kuwait and Qatar.

The OPEC countries are said to be fearful of efforts to reduce carbon emissions because such cuts are likely to entail using less oil by nations everywhere.

Allies of the Association of Small Island States were angered by Saudi Arabia’s self-serving opposition to the temperature study.

“That Saudi Arabia, a country with such obvious oil interests, exploited the UN consensus rule to stop the world’s most vulnerable countries from getting a much-needed summary of the latest climate science is breathtaking for its criminal disregard for the human impacts of climate change,” said Wendel Trio of Greenpeace