Coal and all the talk

Dubai climate change summit's final document pleases participants, but experts see red

-  MOHIT SHARMA

IT’S A FIRST! The double F word— fossil fuels—found a distinct mention in the final text adopted by nearly 200 countries at the recently concluded Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai.

The text, for the first time in the history of COP, called for “transition away from fossil fuels” to restrict the global rise in temperatures within 2°C. The UAE Consensus, as it is being called, came after two weeks of exhausting deliberations at COP 28. Until the very end, the energy security paradigms of powerful nations dominated the discourse, undermining concerns of vulnerable nations at one of the most important global climate summits under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The COP 28 climate talks went into overtime early on December 13 as countries worked tirelessly to bridge the gaps on the issue of fossil fuels. The European Union and island nations kept opposing the drafts for lacking any language on phasing out of fossil fuels, which the Arab countries strongly resisted. Finally, the COP 28 delivered a compromise that called for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner”. The UAE Consensus called for “accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050”. The text also recognised that “transitional fuels can play a role in facilitating the energy transition while ensuring energy security”.