COP28 mood cools due to 'weak language' on fossil fuels

The COP28 climate talks underway in Dubai have come under fire after an updated version of the text being negotiated for a global stocktake (GST) of nations' progress on climate pledges failed to mention any “phase out” of fossil fuels.

After being amended, the text only lists a series of options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, drawing heavy criticism from various quarters, including experts from the World Resources Institute (WRI).

“This text doesn’t send the clear signals that are needed to avert the climate crisis, and the suggested set of actions is merely a 'pick your own menu'. There’s nothing that has any force,” WRI’s director of international climate action, David Waskow, said during a press call.

The updated GST text, which can be seen here, does not mention any “phase out” of fossil fuels unlike a previous version published last week, and commitments to reduce emissions come under a statement saying that parties should "take actions that could include” one or several of the options listed.

These entail “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," it adds.

This was received angrily by countries that were expecting more assertive language on the issue of fossil fuels, particularly small island developing states at serious risk from rising sea levels.

"Paragraph 39 of the GST text includes weak language on fossil fuels. It does not refer to a phase out at all. It presents a menu of options that states 'could' take. 'Could' is unacceptable. States must take action on fossil fuel phase out,” the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Samoa’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Cedric Schuster, told journalists in Dubai.

When BNamericas asked during the WRI press call whether this means that COP28, which is entering its final hours, is headed for failure, Tom Evans, geopolitics and climate diplomacy advisor for think tank E3G, said that countries that are aiming for clearer language can still exert pressure for a positive outcome in the final text.

“We have seen cause for ambition from the small island states of course, and out of the Latin American countries, Colombia comes to mind, and in the European Union countries like France,” he said.