COP28 agreement calls for transition away from fossil fuels

The news: An updated draft climate agreement released at the UN’s COP28 summit calls on nations to transition away from fossil fuels, in a move that conference head Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called “historic.”

The numbers: The new agreement released on Wednesday, which is meant to reflect views of almost 200 participating countries, calls on nations to set “ambitious, economy-wide” emission reductions targets with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees over the next two years.

The context: The new agreement has also received some negative feedback, as the calls to reduce emissions come without explicit guidelines or commitments to phase down or phase out fossil fuels. Additionally, the language of the agreement also leaves scope for countries to interpret how they will contribute to global efforts in a “nationally determined manner” that takes into account “their different national circumstances, pathways and approaches.”

Fossil fuels have been a key point of contention throughout COP28, as large oil producing countries including the UAE as summit host, had pushed for an agreement that set out weaker fossil fuel targets. Earlier this week a draft of the agreement was widely criticised for failing to include calls for a commitment to phase out or phase down the production of fossil fuels. Rather, it set out a range of steps that countries “could” take to reach net zero by 2050.