The COP28 climate summit discussions in Dubai concluded with an agreement to limit the use of fossil fuels, but some delegates and experts feel that the deal lacked ambition. The conference was held for two weeks in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates and was chaired by the CEO of an oil company. The two conferences brought together clashing realities in a painful collision. The planet is warming, yet humanity remains inextricably reliant on coal, oil, and natural gas.
The First Agreement
The talks ended on Wednesday with an agreement among nearly 200 countries committed to “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” particularly noting the acceleration of this shift before 2030. However, the agreement also appeased oil-rich Gulf states with an explicit statement about the use of these fuels during the transition period. It was quickly ratified by the organizers so that representatives from vulnerable island nations, who had concerns about the text, had not yet entered the room.
Comments on the Agreement
However, global summit leaders and officials from major governments were quick to endorse the non-binding agreement as a historic acknowledgment that the world needs to move swiftly towards clean energy sources. “This document sends very strong messages to the world,” said U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, who staked his personal credibility on supporting the appointment of oil executive Sultan Al Jaber to chair the conference. “This is the strongest and clearest call” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – an increasingly difficult target for global climate negotiators to achieve – “than we have heard before,” he said. Kerry also announced that China and the United States had agreed to update their long-term plans to tackle climate change in light of the progress made in the talks.
Diverse Opinions
Danish Environment Minister Dan Jorgensen said, “This is a historic step. I can completely understand if our peoples think it’s shameful that it has taken 28 years. But we are here now. We are in an oil-producing country surrounded by oil-producing countries signing a paper saying we need to move away from oil. It’s historic.” Others stated that the COP28 agreement was merely a beginning. “We also had to send a clear signal with a tough stop to the underlying climate problem of humanity, fossil fuels and their burning pollution of the planet,” said Simon Stiell, head of the UN climate body. “While we have not turned the page on the fossil fuel age in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end.” Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera stated that “there are many things we are missing in this text, but we sincerely believe this is an important step forward.” Others said the agreement falls short of what the world needs to ascend. “The influence of oil states remains clear in the half-measures and loopholes included in the final agreement,” said former U.S. President Al Gore in a statement. “Fossil fuel interests have done everything they can to control the outcome.” Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, head of the World Wildlife Fund who was president of the COP20 climate conference in Peru in 2014, stated, “To have a livable planet, we need to end fossil fuel use completely.”
Fossil Fuels in the Spotlight
However, none of the previous 27 consecutive UN conferences throughout the year addressed the use of fossil fuels, which bear significant responsibility for warming the planet by 1.3 degrees since the industrial era. The inclusion of this language in the final text of these talks was seen as a success of the Dubai negotiations, according to Al Jaber, who addressed the summit delegates on Wednesday. “We have language about fossil fuels in our agreement for the first time ever,” said Al Jaber, who heads the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE. This company plans to oversee $150 billion in spending, including efforts to boost oil production capacity by 2027. Gore also noted the “milestone” represented by the inclusion of fossil fuel language. But he added that “it’s also the minimum we need and it’s very late.”
Challenges
Future Challenges
The European Union and small island nations, whose physical existence is threatened by the continued use of fossil fuels, are pushing for an agreement to end their use by mid-century – unless it is tied to machines capable of removing and burying their dangerous carbon. The United States, Australia, Canada, and Norway – all major fossil fuel producers – joined the late call. The final outcome reflected another step forward in combating global warming. Clean energy technologies like wind are becoming cheaper than dirty alternatives in many cases. Countries are more willing than ever to commit to new voluntary plans that deepen their economies and cover every sector emitting greenhouse gases in greater detail than before.
Future Challenges
The final agreement also included a commitment to double global renewable energy capacity and to double energy efficiency measures by 2030. For the first time, it included a clear benchmark for reducing greenhouse gas emissions over this decade, which is considered a critical reference for staying on track to achieve global climate goals.
Future Challenges
However, fossil fuels still supply more than 80 percent of global energy. For those islanders who came to Dubai hoping that the COP28 summit would show a willingness to break this setback, the final agreement was a cold summary. Tina Stege, the climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, which are surrounded by coral reefs, said outside the room when Al-Jaber announced that the “Emirati Consensus” was a “paradigm shift.” Ann Rasmussen, the chief negotiator for the Pacific nation of Samoa, received applause after lamenting that Al-Jaber had pushed the agreement before she and representatives of other vulnerable islands had a chance to identify weaknesses in the text.
Future Challenges
While the outcome may not fully meet the calls of Pacific nations, “their voices are heard,” according to Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy. The agreement faced strong opposition from Saudi Arabia, India, China, Nigeria, and other countries that see fossil fuels as a means to build or maintain their prosperity. It was necessary to recognize that some fossil fuel will be needed as the world transitions to clean energy.
Future Challenges
The Saudi emphasized the opportunity the agreement provides countries to use non-renewable methods to reduce climate pollution. Throughout the talks, Saudi Arabia strongly advocated for carbon capture technology, despite scientists warning that it cannot replace the transition to clean energy sources. “We must seize every opportunity to reduce emissions regardless of the source and use all technologies for that purpose,” he said.
Future Challenges
Some resource-rich countries say the transition away from fossil fuels requires enough financial resources that do not force them to abandon development and the ability to meet growing energy needs. Many developing countries in Africa and elsewhere pointed to what they describe as hypocrisy from Western countries that continue to expand oil and gas extraction while calling on others to wean off these fuels. Diego Pacheco Palanza, the Bolivian representative, said, “The developed countries that lead the expansion of fossil fuel production worldwide are now champions of the 1.5-degree North Star,” and noted that those countries “are contradicting science itself.”
Future Challenges
In the United States, already the world’s largest oil producer, the Biden administration approved a new oil and gas project in Alaska and holds offshore leasing sales in the Gulf of Mexico. The UK has licensed new drilling operations in the North Sea. The European Union has reached into Africa to sign agreements to secure gas from the continent in an effort to fill gaps in its supplies after the bloc abandoned Russian fuels following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Future Challenges
Future Challenges
Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, a Cuban diplomat who heads a large group of developing countries and China, stated: “None of the policies they currently have lead to a phase-out of fossil fuels. So how can you reconcile that with a statement here about phasing it out? That is very contradictory, at least.” These countries also noted that wealthy nations have consistently failed to make financial commitments to help poorer nations build clean energy systems. They directed this accusation strongly at the United States, where Congress has refused to impose new financial sanctions.
Future Challenges
The final text points to this trend, indicating that favorable lending conditions and non-debt financing such as grants could help shift away from fossil fuels. However, the agreement did not commit countries to any new assistance, expressing “deep regret” over the failure of wealthy nations to deliver the $100 billion they promised annually for climate funding by 2020.
Future Challenges
Nigerian Environment Minister Isaac Konyin Salako said: “Nigeria is committed to doubling renewable energy. But we know that doubling renewable energy also requires resources. We cannot just commit to one and not commit to the other.”
Aspiration and Process
For Al Jaber, whose role as president of the summit has faced ongoing criticism since the UAE appointed him to the position in January, COP28 brought immense scrutiny over whether he would allow fossil fuel interests to dominate the summit, as environmental activists feared. These concerns included doubts about his initial focus on combatting greenhouse gas emissions through means such as costly carbon capture technology rather than addressing it at its source. Under increasing pressure, he eventually declared that phasing out fossil fuels is “inevitable.”
Future Challenges
André Correa do Lago, Brazil’s chief negotiator, said: “In the end, this COP will be remembered for what was achieved in the field of fossil fuels, which I don’t think was the original intention, but it’s an interesting development.”
Positive Start
The summit began positively. At the opening session on November 30, countries signed an agreement to create a new fund to help developing countries rebuild after climate disasters, a historic agreement that island nations have been struggling for decades to achieve. This was followed by pledges to inject cash into the fund immediately. The UAE and Germany announced donations of $100 million each; in total, countries pledged to
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cop28-climate-summit-deal-called-historic-now-countries-must-follow-through/
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