A new draft of the centerpiece\u00a0agreement at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai makes an unprecedented mention of transitioning away from fossil fuels, in what some experts are welcoming as the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. <\/p>\n
But it does not call for the world to \u201cphase out\u201d coal, oil and gas \u2014\u00a0as more than 100 countries had hoped \u2014\u00a0and includes \u201cloopholes\u201d that would allow for their continued use, even beyond 2050. <\/p>\n
The draft, which could continue to be debated, calls on countries to \u201ccontribute\u201d collectively to global efforts to reduce climate pollution in a way that they see fit. It offers eight options, one of which is \u201ctransitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems \u2026 accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050.\u201d <\/p>\n
Countries could choose other options instead, including contributing to a global goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency. <\/p>\n
Climate advocates and policy experts welcomed the call to transition away from fossil fuels \u2014\u00a0the main driver of the climate crisis \u2014\u00a0saying it sends a signal to countries to make plans to wean off coal, oil and gas and recognizes this decade as critical for action. <\/p>\n
The draft \u201csends a signal that the fossil industry\u2019s days are numbered,\u201d Teresa Anderson, global\u00a0climate\u00a0lead at ActionAid, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
But Anderson pointed out several weaknesses in the draft, including references to accelerating growth in \u201cremoval technologies,\u201d also known as carbon capture, which would allow for the continued use of fossil fuels if their carbon pollution was removed before entering the atmosphere. Many scientists have expressed concern that carbon capture is expensive, unproven at scale and a distraction from policies to cut fossil fuel use. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe text has many loopholes and offers several gifts to the greenwashers, with mentions of carbon capture and storage, so-called transition fuels, nuclear power\u00a0and carbon markets,\u201d she said. \u201cOverall, it maps a rocky road towards a fossil free future.\u201d <\/p>\n
The draft was published Wednesday morning local time, more than 12 hours after the summit\u2019s deadline, as talks ran hours into overtime as countries negotiated language around fossil fuels and other sticking points. There will be widespread appetite to wrap up talks by the end of the day, which will require a vote on the draft in a plenary session that will be publicly available online. <\/p>\n
What to do about the future of fossil fuels has been the most contentious issue at these talks. Some more ambitious nations and climate advocate had expressed anger and frustration an earlier draft dropped the call for a phase-out. <\/p>\n
If the text is agreed by countries, it would represent a \u201csignificant moment,\u201d Stephen Cornelius, WWF deputy global climate and energy lead, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201c[But] this cannot be the benchmark by which we judge the outcome of this COP,\u201d he said. \u201cCountries must use these final hours to push for an even more ambitious text that is fully aligned with preventing the most devastating consequences of the climate crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n
The annual climate talks are often divisive and run into extra hours, but COP28 has been particularly fraught, with criticism that oil interests have derailed the process. <\/p>\n
The fossil fuel industry was given record access to the conference, a recent analysis showed. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who is presiding over the talks, also leads the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as it undergoes a major expansion in oil and gas production. He has consistently rejected criticisms of a conflict of interest and pledged to hold a transparent process. <\/p>\n
The secretary-general of the oil-producing group OPEC, Haitham Al Ghais, called on\u00a0members and allies last week\u00a0to \u201cproactively reject\u201d any language that targeted reducing fossil fuel use, telling members to support language that focuses on \u201cemissions\u201d <\/strong>instead. <\/p>\n Saudi Arabia and Iraq were among the countries that did not want reference to a phase-out of fossil fuels in the text, Catherine Abreu, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit group <\/strong>Destination Zero, told reporters in Dubai. Kuwait\u2019s state news agency KUNA said the country\u2019s delegation to COP28 was \u201creaffirming\u201d its rejection of a phase-out as well. <\/p>\n The COP28 presidency has fended off criticism that the text had been too watered down. On Tuesday, it said it supported a \u201chistoric\u201d deal that included some language on fossil fuels and aimed for \u201cthe highest ambition.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe are facing the most demanding COP agenda of all time,\u201d said COP28 Director-General Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi in a news conference. <\/p>\n This is a developing story and it has been updated.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n A new draft of the centerpiece\u00a0agreement at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai makes an unprecedented mention of transitioning away from fossil fuels, in what some experts are welcoming as the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. But it does not call for the world to \u201cphase out\u201d coal, oil and gas <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}