The interim Global Stocktake (GST) document, presented at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, includes phasing out the use of fossil fuels. Since the document is preliminary and other text options are being discussed, this solution to fossil fuel combustion may not be consolidated in the final document. 
This document will serve as a basis for negotiations on the COP28 outcome document, which aims to assess the fight against climate change on the basis of the Paris Agreement and potentially propose more ambitious measures to limit global warming.
For fossil fuels, the Global Balance presents two text options and leaves open a third option without constructed text. The 1st option states that the parties commit to a “gradual, orderly and fair phaseout of fossil fuels”. The second option states that it is necessary to “accelerate efforts to phase out fossil fuels and rapidly reduce their use to achieve netzero carbon emissions in energy systems around midcentury.”
Furthermore, the preliminary global assessment of COP28 suggests a move towards the gradual elimination of “mediumterm, inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.
According to Natalie Unterstell, president of the Talanoa Institute, an organization that studies climate policy, the preliminary text is historic because it includes among the options the elimination of fossil fuels, something that was unimaginable just a few years ago.
For Natalie Unterstell, text is historical EAESPFGV/Disclosure
“At the last COP, the texts referred to the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies and also indicated the transition away from coal, which is actually the most abundant and very polluting energy source. “What we are seeing now is a transition that includes all fossil fuels,” he compared.
However, the expert added that the third option “without text” suggests that it is still necessary to convince some countries. “The negotiators who were here last week have been working on this proposal and some countries do not see the need or are against some of these options. So what’s the next step? I’m just trying to reach an agreement,” Natalie added.
Conflicting interests
Full Professor at the Institute of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Eduardo Frickmann Young IE/UFRJ/Disclosure
For the coordinator of the Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development Group at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Professor Carlos Eduardo Young, the inclusion of the term “elimination” in the document, although considered progress, does not bring about changes in use of fossil fuels.
Is it progress to discuss the phaseout of fossil fuels in the official document? And yes. But is it new to science? Naturally. We’ve been saying this for how many decades. Rio 1992 [1ª Conferência do Clima da ONU] It clearly stated that emissions needed to be reduced. It just didn’t specifically say it was a fossil fuel, but it was implied,” he reflected.
Professor Young believes that at the level of discourse, words are important, but added that there are not yet enough concrete actions that can reverse the use of fossil fuels.
“There is no way to eliminate this [dos combustíveis fósseis] proceed in an orderly and progressive manner because you have identified conflicting interests. “These interests are, for example, the interests of oilproducing countries, including the country that hosted and chairs this conference,” he stressed.
Professor Young cites examples that show that the world should not work to eliminate fossil fuels: the Brazilian government’s project to explore for oil on the country’s equatorial edge; Venezuela’s decision to annex part of Guyana, possibly related to the oil in that region; and the majority position of the Republican Party in the United States, which opposes fossil fuel reductions.
Brazil in the global balance of COP28
Brazil is committed to the debates on the global balance sheet (GST) as it will serve as the basis for discussions at the COP30 to be held in Belém (PA) in 2025, announced the National Secretary for Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment (MMA), Ana Toni.
“It is of no use just having ambitious goals at national and global levels and many declarations if we do not back up these goals with implementation plans, capacities, financing and technology transfer with the same ambition,” he stressed.
Discussing the abandonment of fossil fuels, the Executive Secretary of the MMA, João Paulo Capobiano, emphasized that this must be a decision of all countries and must include alternatives to oil.
“We in Brazil do not believe that voluntary measures by one country are the solution. An international agreement is required to achieve elimination [dos combustíveis fósseis]“Brazil is ready to build this, but alternatives are needed to make it viable, and Brazil is acting on both fronts,” he stressed.
Press conference with the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, together with the Secretary of Climate, Energy and Environment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, the National Secretary for Climate Change of the Ministry of the Environment, Ana Toni and the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, João Paulo Capobianco Estevam/Audiovisual/PR
Climate crisis
Greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere have been increasing the temperature of the planet since the Industrial Revolution (18th and 19th centuries), mainly through the burning of fossil fuels, triggering the current climate crisis characterized by extreme events such as excessive heat and prolonged droughts and heavy rains.
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, 195 countries committed to combating global warming “to significantly less than 2°C above preindustrial levels” and limiting it to 1.5°C above preindustrial revolution levels.