Against the odds

Not long before the crucial final meeting of Cop28 climate summit, a seemingly chance meeting took place in the VIP lounge.

- Fiona Harvey

John Kerry, the US climate envoy, and Sultan AI Jaber, the Cop28 president, exchanged warm greetings with Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman AI Saud, energy minister of Saudi Arabia.

It was only a brief encounter, but it sealed a crucial understanding. Saudi Arabia, the blocker for 30 years of attempts to include fossil fuels in international climate agreements, was not going to stand in the way of this one. Just 24 hours earlier, according to insiders, AI Jaber faced fierce pressure from the Saudi delegation to water down the text. Now, for the first time, the archetypal petrostate would allow a global commitment to be made to "transition away" from fossil fuels.

Minutes later, AI Jaber strode on to the stage where more than 190 countries awaited him. A short announcement, and it was done: the 28th conference of the parties under the UN framework convention on climate change had achieved something no other climate meeting had.

The world's governments had finally agreed to call on countries to begin "transitioning away from fossil fuels".

A deal that satisfied Saudi Arabia, the US and the United Arab Emirates was not going to please everyone.

Indigenous people and climate justice groups said it was unfair and inequitable. Climate scientists acknowledged that the call to transition away from fossil fuels was historic, but said the deal was too weak to keep global heating below the 1.5C Paris limit.

The Alliance of Small Island States, countries that face inundation at more than 1.5C, lambasted a "litany of loopholes" in the text. It did not try to prevent the outcome, but Anne Rasmussen, of Samoa, speaking for the group minutes after the gavel landed on the deal, registered its clear feeling that the agreement did not go far enough.