["Nations committed to climate action must reject this weakened
proposal," said one campaigner. ]
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COP28 ON ‘VERGE OF COMPLETE FAILURE’ AS DRAFT OMITS FOSSIL FUEL
PHASEOUT  
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Olivia Rosane
December 11, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "Nations committed to climate action must reject this weakened
proposal," said one campaigner. _

Activists protest against fossil fuels at COP28., Karim Sahib/AFP via
Getty Images

 

The most recent draft text of the agreement world leaders are hoping
to reach by the end of the United Nations Climate Change Conference on
December 12 does not include any mention of a phaseout of fossil
fuels.

Instead, the document released [[link removed]]
Monday calls for "reducing both consumption and production of fossil
fuels, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner so as to achieve net
zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science."

"COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure," former U.S. Vice
President Al Gore tweeted
[[link removed]] in response to
the release. "The world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as
quickly as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC
dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared. It
is 'Of the Petrostates, by the Petrostates, and for the Petrostates.'"

"How do we go home and tell our people that this is what the world has
to say about our futures?"

An agreement to phase out fossil fuels at COP28 has been a major
demand of civil society groups and influential delegations including
the European Union and nations especially vulnerable to the climate
crisis, according
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to _Reuters_. The call comes as nations' current pledges under the
Paris agreement put the world
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path for 2.9°C of warming, even as 2023 is almost certain
[[link removed]] to be
the hottest year on record.

Yet there were concerns leading into the U.N. talks that the influence
of the fossil fuel industry would undermine an ambitious outcome.
COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is also
[[link removed]] the CEO of
the United Arab Emirates' national oil company, and reports emerged
[[link removed]] that he had used
talks surrounding COP28 to push oil and gas deals.

The latest language on fossil fuels comes in the text of the Global
Stocktake, a mechanism by which parties to the Paris agreement assess
their progress and set new goals. It is one bullet in a list of
actions that the draft says nations "could include" in the path to
"deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions."

Other actions in the list include

* Tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling efficiency by 2030;
* Quickly "phasing down unabated coal";
* Achieving a "net-zero energy system" as soon as possible;
* Curbing greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide such as methane;
and
* Ending "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies."

"The COP28 draft text resembles a disjointed wish list, far from the
stringent measures required to limit warming to 1.5°C," Andreas
Sieber, associate director of policy and campaigns at 350.org
[[link removed]], said in a statement. "The
presidency, displaying a troubling lack of leadership, has notably
weakened commitments to phasing out fossil fuels and promoting
renewables."

Sieber also criticized the lack of urgency in the text's overall
language.

"By framing actions as 'could' instead of 'shall,' and with weak
language on short-term declines and renewable targets, this draft
falls short. Nations committed to climate action must reject this
weakened proposal, insisting on transformative changes for a
meaningful impact on global warming."

The Alliance of Small Island States, meanwhile, told
[[link removed]] the
_Financial Times _that the "weak language on fossil fuels was
completely insufficient."

Joseph Sikulu, Pacific managing director of 350.org, added, "This week
we felt that the goal of phasing out fossil fuels was within reach,
but the lack of climate leadership shown by the presidency and the
blatant watering down of commitments to a 'wish list' is an insult to
those of us that came here to fight for our survival. How do we go
home and tell our people that this is what the world has to say about
our futures?"

Environmental Defense associate director of national change Julia
Levin called the draft text "unacceptable," while Jean Su from the
Center for Biological Diversity
[[link removed]]told
[[link removed]]_The
Associated Press _that it "moves disastrously backward from original
language offering a phaseout of fossil fuels."

"If this race-to-the-bottom monstrosity gets enshrined as the final
word, this crucial COP will be a failure," Su said.

Climate campaigners are also concerned that the text opens the doorway
to untested technological solutions like carbon capture and storage
that can be used to extend the burning of fossil fuels.

"The word 'phaseout' has been phased out."

"It's incredibly dangerous for the fossil fuel industry and its
enablers in government to promote the idea that they can keep burning
fossil fuels while pulling carbon out of the air or out of the
smokestacks with technologies that consistently fail to deliver,"
Collin Rees, the U.S. program manager at Oil Change International
[[link removed]], told
[[link removed]]_New
York Times _opinion writer Peter Coy before the latest draft was
released.

Despite these warnings, one of the suggested actions in the text is
"accelerating zero and low emissions technologies, including, inter
alia, renewables, nuclear, abatement, and removal technologies,
including such as carbon capture and utilization and storage, and low
carbon hydrogen production, so as to enhance efforts towards
substitution of unabated fossil fuels in energy systems."

"Like the smog-ridden Dubai skyline, the mention of fossil fuels in
the final outcome is at best murky, and at worst, dangerous," Cansin
Leylim, 350.org associate director of global campaigns, said in a
statement. "This outcome leaves the doors wide open to dangerous
distractions and false technologies like carbon capture and storage
(CCS), which will surely blow us past the 1.5°C planetary limit, and
fails to integrate the crucial finance and equitability aspects of the
just transition to renewable energy that we need."

Sara Shaw with Friends of the Earth
[[link removed]] International
agreed that "the fossil fuel text is alarmingly weak and opens the
door to risky, dangerous CCS/CCUS, hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon
removal technologies (geoengineering, or nature-based). These
loopholes prolong the fossil fuel era, and delay and distract from any
meaningful phaseout."

However, she added there was more going on behind the scenes.

"Countries who claim to be climate champions like the U.S. and E.U.
are calling for stronger fossil fuel phaseout text, despite planning
massive fossil fuel expansion," Shaw said. "And they are seeking to
water down the climate finance provisions (one of the elements of the
text which is better than expected) so urgently needed to enable the
energy transition in the global South."

Activists are still hoping to strengthen the language before
negotiations conclude Tuesday.

"The word 'phaseout' has been phased out," Li Shuo, director of the
Asia Society Policy Institute, told _AP_. "We need to phase in the
word phaseout. I think there's still a chance for countries to do so."

Peri Dias, 350.org Latin America representative at COP28, said: "In
the coming hours, we will either witness a historic decision for the
good of the planet, or one for its end. Are the parties at COP28 going
to agree to a rapid and fair elimination of fossil fuels or not?"

Gore concluded: "There are 24 hours left to show whose side the world
is on: the side that wants to protect humanity's future by
kickstarting the orderly phase out of fossil fuels or the side of the
petrostates and the leaders of the oil and gas companies that are
fueling the historic climate catastrophe."

"In order to prevent COP28 from being the most embarrassing and dismal
failure in 28 years of international climate negotiations, the final
text must include clear language on phasing out fossil fuels," he
said. "Anything else is a massive step backwards from where the world
needs to be to truly address the climate crisis and make sure the
1.5°C goal doesn't die in Dubai."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel
free to republish and share widely.

 

Olivia Rosane is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

* COP28; Phase out of Fossil Fuels;
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