COP28 closes with deal to shift away from fossil fuels

DUBAI, December 13, 2023 – The COP28 summit has ended with a deal signed by almost 200 countries to reduce consumption of fossil fuels, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The new pact calls for nations to transition away from fossil fuels in the next decade to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the largest climate change commitment of its kind that mentions cutting down on the usage of fossil fuels.

It also sets a goal to triple global renewable capacity by 2030, target methane emissions and accelerate decarbonisation technologies such as CCS.

The goal is to limit global warming to a targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times as set in the Paris Agreement made in 2015. The world has already seen temperatures rise by 1.2 degrees.

The deal is not legally binding but is meant to send a message to policy makers and investors.

Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, president of COP28 and managing director and CEO of ADNOC, applauded the conference as historic.

However, he called on nations to act within the guidelines of the deal: “We are what we do, not what we say. We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions.”

Debate at the conference took the signing of the deal into overtime, with OPEC arguing emissions can be cut without targeting specific energy sources.

OPEC members hold almost 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves and produce around one third of global oil production.

Large oil and gas producing countries in favour of the call to include phasing out fossil fuels included the USA, Canada and Norway.

“This is a moment where multilateralism has actually come together and people have taken individual interests and attempted to define the common good,” said John Kerry, United States special presidential envoy for climate.

“It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s minister of foreign affairs.

However, not all opinions were positive on the decision.

“We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual, when what we really need is an exponential step change in our actions,” said Anne Rasmussen, lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States.

Additionally, many African nations expressed fears that a move from fossil fuels in more developing countries would be economically unfeasible.

“Asking Nigeria, or indeed, asking Africa, to phase out fossil fuels is like asking us to stop breathing without life support,” said Ishaq Salako, Nigeria’s environmental minister. “It is not acceptable, and it is not possible.”

Oil, gas and coal still represent 80% of the world’s energy consumption.

Additionally, more than 20 nations around the world including the USA, the UK, France and Japan pledged to triple global nuclear power generation capacity by 2050 at the summit.

According to the World Nuclear Association, tripling global nuclear power by 2050 will involve adding 40 GW of nuclear power generation capacity per year until 2050.

COP28 was held in Dubai, UAE, from November 30 until December 12, 2023.

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