Negotiators present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, December 13, approved a resolution urging the world to move away from fossil fuels, a move described by the head of COP 28 as historic, but critics raised concerns about its weaknesses.
According to the Associated Press, minutes after the opening of Thursday’s session, Sultan Jaber, the head of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, announced the approval of a resolution that seeks to transition away from fossil fuels. He emphasized, “Existing reports show how far the world has strayed from the [natural] climate path and how it can return to this path. This resolution represents a historic scientific and decisive step to accelerate climate corrective actions.”
Jaber, who is also the CEO of the United Arab Emirates’ oil company, further stated, “For the first time, a final agreement on fossil fuels has been discussed.”
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Following this announcement, representatives of the countries present at the conference stood up and embraced each other. This joy comes with many concerns about the details of the draft resolution on transitioning away from fossil fuels.
During Thursday’s session, Simon Steel, the head of the UN Climate Change Conference, addressed the participants, stating that their efforts to address the primary climate issue, namely the use of fossil fuels and the resulting pollution, are essential.
He also emphasized that the approval of this resolution is “the beginning of an end” and not “the end itself.”
The draft resolution of COP 28, which outlines the decision to transition away from fossil fuels, was released early Thursday local time and presented a clearer and stronger text than previous proposal drafts. Despite this, it still faced criticisms. Critics argue that this agreement is not sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and does not adequately address the specific and necessary changes in the path to combat climate change. Representatives of some countries that have suffered significant impacts from climate change believe that “such an agreement is a step backward rather than forward.”
On the other hand, many representatives of countries, including the United States, welcomed this approach. John Kerry, the US Special Envoy for Climate, said, “I am amazed by the spirit of cooperation that has brought everyone together. It shows that despite what the world is experiencing with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, multilateralism can still work.”
John Kerry emphasized that “the COP 28 resolution sends very clear messages to the world” and added, “Many wished for a clearer statement about moving away from fossil fuels, but we must accept that the current resolution is an important compromise in this regard.”
In addition to the decision to transition away from fossil fuels, the agreement also calls for tripling the use of renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency.
Earlier in the negotiations in the past few days, participating representatives at the conference agreed to expand the special fund for climate-affected poor countries and invested nearly $800 million in it.
António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, also stated in a statement, “For the first time, the need to move away from fossil fuels has been officially recognized.”
Guterres emphasized, “It is necessary to put an end to the fossil fuel era and end this path with justice and fairness.”
The approved resolution on Thursday does not go as far as to “completely eliminate” fossil fuels, a request made by over 100 countries, such as small island nations and European countries. Instead, it calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a fair and orderly manner and accelerating actions in this critical decade.”
According to this agreement, the transition from the use of fossil fuels will be done in a way that reduces greenhouse gas emissions to zero worldwide by 2050.