DUBAI: Nearly 200 nations meeting in Dubai on Wednesday approved a first-ever call for the world to transition away from fossil fuels, tackling the top culprit of climate change after years of avoidance although at-risk countries said far more action was needed.
After 13 days of talks and several sleepless nights in a country built on oil wealth, the Emirati president of the COP28 summit quickly banged a gavel to signal consensus among 194 countries and the European Union.
"You did step up, you showed flexibility, you put common interest ahead of self-interest," said COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, whose role as head of the United Arab Emirates' national oil company had raised suspicion among many environmentalists.
Describing the deal as bringing "transformational change", Jaber said: "We have helped restore faith and trust in multilateralism, and we have shown that humanity can come together."
EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra called the agreement "long, long overdue", saying it had taken nearly 30 years of climate meetings to "arrive at the beginning of the end of fossil fuels".
Toughening language from an earlier draft that was roundly denounced by environmentalists, the agreement calls for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner".
It asks for greater action "in this critical decade" and recommits to no net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in hopes of meeting the increasingly elusive goal of checking warming at 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
The planet has already warmed by 1.2 degrees and scientists say 2023 was likely the warmest in 100,000 years, as storms, droughts and lethal wildfires expand around the world.
The text stopped short of backing appeals during the summit for a "phase-out" of oil, gas and coal, which together account for around three-quarters of the emissions responsible for the planetary crisis.
The agreement also made more explicit the near-term goals in the goal of ending net emissions by 2050.
It called for the world to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 compared with 2019 levels.
The agreement tackles only fossil use in energy, not in industrial areas such as production of plastics and fertiliser.
The deal backs a phase-down of "unabated" coal power — meaning it preserves a role for the dirty but politically sensitive energy source if there is use of carbon capture technology, panned by many environmentalists as unproven. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
