After two weeks of intense deliberations in Dubai, delegates from nearly 200 countries attending the COP28 climate conference reached a landmark but contentious agreement to depart from using fossil fuels for energy production.
The COP28 pact calls for a “just, orderly, and equitable” transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems “to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.
It is the first time since the first Conference of the Parties in 1995 that a climate summit has ended with a call to abandon fossil fuels.
See Also:2023 Is the Hottest Year on Record; 2024 Will Likely Be HotterThe agreement also stipulates that countries worldwide must set “ambitious” emission targets by 2025 regarding their use of fossil fuels to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels before the turn of the century.
The summit chair, Sultan Al-Jaber, who had been previously accused of planning to secretly strike new oil deals at COP28, hailed the accord as a “historic package” and a “robust plan” to achieve the 1.5 ºC target.
COP28 attending nations have also agreed to triple renewable energy and increase financial aid to developing countries to mitigate the impact of climate change.
However, an explicit reference to a complete phase-out of fossil fuels was left out of the final COP28 text after lobbying from Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), causing environmentalists and climate campaigners in Dubai to express their frustration.
“We’re very disappointed about this deal,” said climate justice activist Selma de Montgomery from Denmark. “We hoped that this COP could be, and we were fighting for, this COP to be the end of the fossil fuel era, and we do not see that delivered in this text.”
Criticizing the absence of an oil and coal phase-out from the pact, United Nations secretary-general António Guterres said: “To those who opposed a clear reference to phase out of fossil fuels during the COP28 climate conference, I want to say: Whether you like it or not, fossil fuel phase-out is inevitable. Let’s hope it doesn’t come too late.”
Meanwhile, the final COP28 agreement was reached without the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of 39 Pacific island nations and other low-lying coastal states vulnerable to rising sea levels.
“We are a little confused about what just happened,” said Anna Rasmussen, chief negotiator for the alliance. “It seems you gavelled the decisions, and the small island developing states were not in the room.”
Rasmussen also called the new climate accord “a litany of loopholes,” referring to the option for countries to accelerate plans for carbon capture and storage, a process where carbon dioxide from industrial sources is stored in underground reservoirs.
Scientists and other experts have argued that carbon storage is still a developing technology and could become a disorientating factor for countries looking to limit fossil fuel emissions.
Other items on the COP28 agenda, including how to secure the necessary financing for developing nations to adapt to climate change challenges, remained unresolved at this year’s climate conference despite the operationalization of the loss and damage fund agreed on last year.
COP29, the next global climate conference, is scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, another oil-producing country, in November 2024.
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