'US supports unabated fossil fuels phaseout'

John Kerry, US climate envoy, on Wednesday said the US will support language on phasing out "unabated" fossil fuels in the UN Climate Summit's (COP28) outcome document.

- Jayashree Nandi

In a joint statement after a meeting in Sapporo, Japan, in May, climate ministers of the G7, a grouping of wealthy nations, agreed "to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050 at the latest". However, they did not set a firm date for doing so.

"We supported language on phase-out of unabated fossil fuels at the G7 and we will continue to support that. We find it hard for anybody to understand how they would continue to allow unabated burning of fossil fuel in the world we're living in, knowing what we know about the dangers. So, we do support an outcome in the global stocktake that builds on the G7 commitment to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels, and to achieve net-zero emissions in all energy systems by mid-century," Kerry said during a press briefing ahead of COP28's opening day in Dubai. "We still have people who have not signed up to that. They are some of them among the major producers of fossil fuel and they need to immediately step up and be part of the solution, not the most significant part of the problem," he added.