Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege and Daniel Lund pictured on the day of negotiations on the draft Cop28 agreement. Photo: Reuters
The Cop28 On Wednesday, the president released the proposed text of a final climate agreement that would push countries to transition away from fossil fuels for the first time to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
The draft is intended to reflect the consensus views of nearly 200 countries gathered at a conference in Dubai, where dozens of governments insisted on strong language to signal the possible end of the fossil fuel era – despite protests from members of the OPEC oil producer group. and his allies.
“For the first time, the world is uniting around such a clear message about the need to transition away from fossil fuels. This was the elephant in the room. “We have finally started to solve this problem,” said Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Bart Eide.
Country representatives have been called to a final meeting, which the Cop28 president hopes will take place on Wednesday morning. where they can accept an agreement and end two weeks of difficult negotiations that turned into overtime.
The deals were concluded on time. UN climate summits must be held by consensus, after which individual countries are responsible for implementing the agreements through national policies and investments.
The proposed deal would, in part, call for “a transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems that is fair, orderly and equally… to achieve net zero by 2050 in line with the science.”
Cop28 CEO Majid Al Suwaidi Photo : Reuters
It also calls for tripling renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030, accelerating efforts to cut coal use and develop technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up industries that are difficult to decarbonize.
If passed, it would be the first time in three decades of COP climate summits that countries have agreed to a concerted shift away from oil, gas and coal, which account for 80 percent of the world's energy. Scientists say fossil fuels are by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
“The latest Global Review sends a strong signal that world leaders recognize that a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels… is essential to achieving our climate goals,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
However, she noted that the proposal would not oblige rich countries to offer more financing to help developing countries transition away from fossil fuels.
“The financing and equity provisions… are seriously insufficient and need to be improved in the future,” to ensure that low- and middle-income countries can transition to clean energy and close the energy poverty gap,” she said.
OPEC Opposition
It remains to be seen whether the proposed deal will receive enough support to pass.< /p>
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais said in a Dec. 6 letter to OPEC members and allies at Cop28 said the world should focus on emissions rather than fossil fuels, rallying them against any deal aimed at for oil.
OPEC countries together control nearly 80 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, as well as about a third of global oil production, and their governments rely heavily on revenue.
Oil producers say that fossil fuels can be cleaned up from their climate impact using technologies that can capture and store carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon capture is expensive and its scale has yet to be proven.
Negotiators and observers at the Cop28 talks told Reuters that while Saudi Arabia was the strongest opponent of anti-fossil fuel language in the text, other OPEC and OPEC+ members including Iran, Iraq and Russia also resisted.
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