A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
After widespread backlash over a weak initial text, COP28 delegates worked through the night in Dubai on Wednesday before Government ministers from 198 countries reached a historic deal in which the world has, for the first time, agreed to move away from fossil fuels — the principal cause of globalwarming.
The text they agreed to does not talk about the phasing out of coal, oil and natural gas like many campaigners demanded and the Europeans pushed for — unrealistically, as COP deals are reached by consensus and fossil-fuel producers would not sign up to that. Middle-income developing countries were also concerned about the much-hyped talk of phasing out fossil fuels. Added to this, almost all scenarios for the world to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 still have oil and gas playing a role in the energy mix, alongside technologies that remove their greenhouse gas emissions.
Instead, and contrary to a pervading sense of pessimism at this COP hosted by one of the world’s leading petrostates, the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed on a text that called for a transition away from fossil fuels “in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner”. (Note the mention only of energy systems leaves out — for now — plastics, transport and agriculture.) The text also includes a new commitment to triple renewables and energy efficiency by 2030.
Much-maligned COP28 president Sultan al-Jabar was determined to guide negotiating success under his country’s leadership of this year’s climate summit. That began early on with a pledge from 50 big hydrocarbon firms, accounting for 40 percent of global oil production, to all but eliminate the methane emissions associated with the exploration and production of fossil fuels by 2030.
An agreement before the summit between America and China, the world’s two biggest emitters, helped ensure there would be mention of fossil fuels for the first time. Only coal had been targeted previously, in the COP26 text, which pledged “accelerating efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power”.
Poorer countries need a lot of help to transition to greener energy, and that key issue was largely put to one side at COP28. Those that have fossil-fuel reserves want to be able to benefit from them; and clean-energy projects tend to cost significantly more in the developing world because of greater risks for private companies, which want a premium for that.
The cost of renewables is continuing to fall, though, which along with well-targeted subsidies and taxes on polluters will keep increasing the pressure on fossil fuels. That is what ultimately will ensure the words this week translate into meaningful action.
