Climate Draft Condemned As 'Weak' And 'Insufficient'

A draft deal to cut global fossil fuel production is "grossly insufficient" and "incoherent" and will not stop the world facing dangerous climate breakdown, according to delegates at the UN's Cop28 summit.

- Fiona Harvey Patrick Greenfield Nina Lakhani

The text put forward by the summit presidency after 10 days of wrangling was received with concern and anger by many climate experts and politicians, though others welcomed elements of the draft, including the first mention in a Cop text of reducing fossil fuel production.

Some countries are despairing that the text does not require a full phaseout of fossil fuels.

Cedric Schuster of Samoa, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: "We will not sign our death certificate. We cannot sign on to text that does not have strong commitments on phasing out fossil fuels." The Cop28 presidency released a draft text early yesterday evening calling for "reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in ajust, orderly and equitable manner, so as to achieve net zero by, before or around 2050, in keeping with the science".

The text avoids highly contentious calls for a "phase-out" or "phasedown" of fossil fuels, which have been the focus of deep disagreement among the more than 190 countries meeting in Dubai.

Instead of requiring fossil fuel producers to cut their output, it frames such reductions as optional, by calling on countries to "take actions that could include" reducing fossil fuels. "That one word 'could' just kills everything," said Eamon Ryan, Ireland's environment minister, adding that the EU could walk out of the talks if the text did not improve.

"We can't accept this text," he said.