Several strokes of the pen to find an amicable path and a stroke of the plan over the hopes of the most ambitious. On Monday, December 11, the theoretical eve of the final day of the 28th Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, President Sultan Al-Jaber's teams worked and then let the hours tick by, “undoubtedly time “. “Consult specific stakeholders on key points,” said a source within a European delegation. Above all, there is time to profoundly modify the ideas that have been discussed for ten days.
At around 5 p.m. the most important final draft text of this conference, the “Global Stocktake”, an assessment of the Paris Agreement that is intended to increase the ambitions of states, was published. This time there are no longer multiple options to stimulate debate, but rather significantly less ambitious proposals, particularly on the much-anticipated “energy package”. For ten days now, during a COP, pressure has been growing in an unprecedented way around the idea of phasing out coal, oil and gas at some point. However, the terms on fossil fuel phase-out included in several versions of the document and called for by NGOs, the European Union (EU), representatives of the Pacific Islands and even Latin American countries have disappeared.
This project proposes only a gradual phase-out (“reduction”) of coal, which is not captured by technology and “limitations” on new drilling. No more mention of an eventual phase-out of oil and gas, but an injunction to “reduce” the consumption and production of fossil fuels in order to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 while respecting the science, i.e. the warming mentioned several times +1.5°C, the most ambitious threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“Extremely disappointing”
As demanded by the oil producing countries in the Persian Gulf, led by Saudi Arabia, the sides are placing significantly greater emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The parties thus “recognize the need for a profound, rapid and sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and call on the parties to take action,” it can be read. The tripling of renewable energies by 2030 is maintained. The Emirati presidency also leaves the door wide open for technological solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of fossil fuels. A paragraph discussing carbon capture and storage recommends “accelerating technologies.”
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