COP28: Final deal agrees a ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels
Cop28 landmark deal agreed to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels, The Guardian, 13 December 2023
The COP28 climate summit has approved a deal that its supporters said would, for the first time, push nations to move away from fossil fuels to avert the worst effects of climate change.
The final text avoided the words “phase out” and “phase down”, which had been the source of much debate among countries, instead referring to a need to “transition away” from fossil fuels.
Sultan Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, the president of the summit, said: “We have delivered a comprehensive response to the global stocktake. We have delivered a robust action plan to keep 1.5C (2.7F) [of global heating above preindustrial levels] in reach...”
However, climate justice advocates said the text fell far short of what was needed for a fair transition. The Alliance of Small Island States, many of whose members face an existential threat from rising sea levels, said: “We see a litany of loopholes in this text that are a major concern to us…It is not enough for us to reference the science and then make agreements that ignore what the science is telling us we need to do.”
...The Center for Biological Diversity energy justice director, Jean Su, said “The problem with the text is that it still includes cavernous loopholes that allow the United States and other fossil fuel producing countries to keep going on their expansion of fossil fuels...There’s a pretty deadly, fatal flaw in the text..."