The Emirati Presidency of COP28 unveiled a new compromise project to unlock climate talks in Dubai on Wednesday, December 13, calling on countries around the world to “transition to phase out fossil fuels” with a goal of 2050 Achieving carbon neutrality, according to climate science. The document, whose release was awaited all night by sleepless negotiators, proposes, for the first time in the history of United Nations climate conferences, that all fossil fuels that are largely responsible for climate change should be mentioned in a resolution to be adopted by all countries .
The text, the text of which was negotiated by the Emiratis, therefore calls for “the transition to a phase-out of fossil fuels in energy systems in a fair, orderly and equitable manner, through accelerated action in this crucial decade to achieve this.” Carbon neutrality in Year 2050 according to scientific recommendations. The call to accelerate action from the current decade was a demand from the European Union and many other countries, but the document no longer speaks directly about the “phase out” of oil, gas and coal, as more than a hundred nations have called for.
To make history, this compromise text, the result of painful negotiations in particular between the European Union, small island states, the United States, China and Saudi Arabia, must be adopted by consensus by almost 200 countries. To this end, the day after the scheduled end of COP28, the Presidency convened a plenary session at 9:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. in Paris) chaired by Emirati Sultan Al-Jaber, head of the Emirati oil company Adnoc. Under UN climate rules, only a country can object to the adoption of a decision at the COP.
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Sultan Al-Jaber had struggled for more than twenty-four hours to save a COP that he had heralded as a “turning point” capable of preserving the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement adopted eight years ago: limiting the surge global temperature to 1.5°C. The first draft of the Emirati text sparked an outcry on Monday because it did not call for a “phase-out” of fossil fuels, the burning of which since the 19th century is largely responsible for the current 1.2C rise in global temperatures compared to last year is pre-industrial age.
“We are making progress,” John Kerry, the US climate envoy, said on Tuesday evening, preparing for another consultation. “Good progress” is being made, said Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen. Around 130 countries (European Union, island states, USA, Brazil, etc.) called for an ambitious text with a clear signal to start the decline in fossil fuels.
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A text that contains several calls on the topic of energy
So far, only the “reduction” in coal has been recorded at COP26 in Glasgow. Oil and gas had never been named. The draft Emirati agreement recognizes the role that “transitional energies,” a reference to gas, play in ensuring the “energy security” of developing countries where nearly 800 million people lack access to electricity.
The text contains several energy-related demands: tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030; Accelerating “zero- and low-carbon” technologies, including nuclear power, low-carbon hydrogen, and emerging carbon capture and storage, defended by oil-producing countries to continue pumping hydrocarbons.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq took a hard line and rejected any deal that would attack the fossil fuels that are their source of wealth. At a conference in Doha on Tuesday, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Saad Al-Barrak condemned an “aggressive attack” by the West. Some of the countries most in favor of an oil “exit” have signaled they are willing to sacrifice the deadline in exchange for significant commitments.
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