After weeks of negotiating, speeches and protests, the nearly 200 countries which participated in the United Nations climate summit or COP28 in the oil-rich nation adopted the historic agreement calling for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels. While the COP28 president described the agreement which stops short of calling for a “phase out” of fossil fuels as a “true victory” not everyone agrees with that sentiment.
The adopted agreement is the first time in the nearly three-decade history of the UN climate summits that nations agreed to transition away from fossil fuels after two weeks of debate and wrapping up the conference marred by controversies.
‘UAE consensus’
The latest draft pitched on early Wednesday after another night of debate more explicitly “calls on” all nations to take a series of actions as opposed to the previously dismissed draft which listed what “could” be done to combat global warming.
The toughened language of the agreement includes “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”
The agreement which ended up being dubbed the “UAE Consensus” calls on countries to take action to transition away from fossil fuels and indicates that the world, for the first time, has expressed a unified desire to eventually end the oil age, in a bid to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Fossil fuels account for about 80 per cent of global energy but are also the main culprits in the planet’s rapid warming.
The deal also calls for tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, phase-downs of “unabated coal power” and accelerating technologies such as carbon capture.
While the agreement calls for “phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible,” it does not call for a “phase-out” of fossil fuels, which had been sought by most countries.
It also set more explicit near-term goals which included ending net emissions by 2050 and called for efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent in the next seven years when compared with 2019 levels.
Will it make a difference?
While the deal has been touted as “historic”, the COP28 president said that its true success would be in its implementation and urged countries to “take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions.” It is now up to individual countries to take action by proposing and enacting national policies and investments.
But in case you are wondering how an oil-rich nation, not to mention an OPEC member, agreed to this deal, it is because of the list of actions that countries supposedly should take to fight climate change.
The deal calls for increased use of existing technologies to reduce the climate impact of fossil fuels, which mainly includes capturing carbon dioxide when oil, natural gas and coal are burned before they are emitted into the atmosphere.
While this technology has been around for some time, it is also very expensive, not to mention the lack of backing to prove that its global application could have an impact on climate change as opposed to scientists across the world calling to end the use of fossil fuels as a way to stop global warming.
Saudi Arabia reportedly pressured the UAE to drop any mention of fossil fuels from the text but later agreed. A source familiar with Saudi thinking told Reuters that the kingdom could have accepted the deal as it provides a “menu” for every country to follow its own way to the energy transition.
The inclusion of the term “phase out” in the document faced strong opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group which argued that the world can reduce emissions without restricting the use of certain fossil fuels.
True victory?
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber ended this year’s conference and called the agreement a “true victory” of unity, solidarity and collaboration between the 194 countries and the European Union.
“This is a true victory for those who are sincere and genuine in addressing this global climate challenge. This is a true victory for those who are pragmatic, results-oriented, and led by the science,” said Al Jaber.
“I hear no objection? It is so decided,” he announced prompting applause and a standing ovation from delegates, but not all. As it turns out, representatives from the small island nations which are at most risk due to climate change were not even in the room when the decision was made.
“We didn’t want to interrupt the standing ovation when we came into the room, but we are a little confused about what happened,” said Alliance of Small Island States representative Anne Rasmussen from Samoa.
She also explained that they were delayed as they tried to agree on a coordinated position on the text, and declared the bloc unhappy with the final result. “It seems that you just gavelled the decisions and the small island developing states were not in the room,” she added.
AOSIS, a bloc of 39 countries in a statement said that while the new text is an improvement it did not “reflect a number of submissions made by small island developing states,” expressed their concerns about the “litany of loopholes” and noted that “course correction is needed.”
“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. This is not an approach that we should be asked to defend,” said Rasmussen.
Mixed reactions
Representatives of most countries lauded the deal and the cooperation it took to make it happen including the US and EU.
“This is a moment where multilateralism has actually come together and people have taken individual interests and attempted to define the common good,” said American climate envoy John Kerry after the agreement was adopted.
EU chief negotiator Wopke Hoekstra told a press huddle outside the plenary that the agreement was “truly consequential” and the “beginning of the end of fossil fuels”.
While others expressed disappointment. “I came here from my home in the islands to work with you all to solve the greatest challenge of our generation. I came here to build a canoe together for my country. Instead we have built a canoe with a weak and leaky hull, full of holes. Instead we have put it in the water,” said Marshall Islands’ head of delegation, John Silk.
Meanwhile, India and China, among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the world, called on developed countries to lead based on their “historical contributions” to climate change.
“This COP has largely disappointed on all fronts. It hasn’t sufficiently raised climate ambition, held historical polluters accountable, or established effective mechanisms to finance climate resilience and a just low-carbon transition for the Global South,” said Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a New Delhi based think tank.
He added, “The exclusive focus on rapidly phasing down unabated coal, as opposed to all fossil fuels, heightens the risk of exacerbating the North-South global divide.”
(With inputs from agencies)
