COP28 climate deal signals fossil fuels era is coming to an end - but not fast enough
For the 30 years this climate summit process has been going on there has been no formal recognition of the fact if we are going to avoid the most dangerous climate change we have to phase out our use of fossil fuels. What was agreed was a big step forward - but also a missed opportunity.
Wednesday 13 December 2023 16:14, UK
The deal passed almost immediately. It is quite remarkable.
I have been to a lot of these summits and I have never seen one end as quickly and as painlessly as that.
There must have been a lot of hard work that went on through the night by the UAE - which has the presidency of this year's COP - to ensure that everyone was pretty much happy with it before it went through.
And it did, quickly. It is a remarkable agreement.
COP28 agreement - latest: Standing ovation after 'world first' agreement
For the 30 years this climate summit process has been going on there has been no formal recognition of the fact if we are going to avoid the most dangerous climate change we have to phase out our use of fossil fuels.
That specific language - phasing them out - didn't quite make it.
It was probably never going to in a region or in a text dominated by fossil fuels - but it did pass, with some slight watering down.
But the headline agreement was how we are going to continue efforts globally to get 1.5C of global warming - hopefully no more than that - by the middle of this century.
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What was agreed today was a big step forward. It mentioned fossils fuels. It clearly said they have got to go if we are going to get there.
But there were big caveats - "cavernous loopholes" described by some NGOs, that really allow quite a lot of wriggle room.
For example, they describe the importance of transition fuels, and what does that mean? Well, that's natural gas - a little offering there for the rich and gas-rich countries to continue their work.
As things currently stand this agreement only takes us about 30% of the way to getting to avoiding 1.5C of global warming, according to the independent International Energy Agency.
So we are definitely not there yet, but it's a big step forward.
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Historic? Yes, the deal mentions fossil fuels.
But possibly historic for the wrong reasons: this was a missed opportunity to phase them out fast enough to avoid that dangerous global warming this process is all about.