COP28 Draft Agreement Abandons References To Phase Out Of Fossil Fuels, And The EU Is Not Happy
A draft agreement from the UN’s COP28 climate summit has omitted references to the phaseout of fossil fuels.
This triggered a backlash from countries – including EU member states – that want stronger measures against fossil fuels and accuse Saudi Arabia and other petrostates of disrupting global efforts to combat the climate crisis.
The agreement includes a number of actions that countries could take to get greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 – presenting the option as a choice.
This includes reducing “consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero [carbon emissions] by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science”.
However, several countries have criticised this move, urging the need for a stronger and clearer position on the phasing out of fossil fuels, rather than presenting the decrease in national consumption and production as a choice.
This is essential considering that fossil-fuel burning accounts for around three-quarters of emissions, making it the biggest contributor to climate change.
The agreement is facing reproval from many EU states, small island countries, and the UK.
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said this was “clearly insufficient”.
“For the vast majority of our emissions, we have no alternative than to drive them down and out ASAP.”
Germany, the UK, and a coalition of small island states shared similar sentiments with the German foreign minister saying it contradicted EU energy policy and allowed for new coal power plants.
Meanwhile, the UK government said its position is clear, “there must be a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels to meet our climate goals”.
On the other hand, Samoa’s minister of natural resources who was speaking on behalf of a group of small island countries vulnerable to climate change, said they were “not being heard” and that their survival is “at stake”.
The secretary-General of the UN António Guterres said that the success of COP28 relies on reaching a consensus on the need to “reach a consensus on the need to phase out fossil fuels” while the US State Department said the wording on fossil fuels needed to be “substantially strengthened”.
Following this news, negotiators and state representatives accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring the president of COP28 and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to divert the focus on any agreement away from fossil fuels.
An EU negotiator even highlighted an “emerging proactive coalition” that is more conscious, organised, and coordinated than ever before.
Do you think the COP28 needs a stronger approach to the phasing out of fossil fuels?
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