A historic agreement has been reached at the COP28 conference this morning, with nearly 200 countries joining the deal to ‘transition away’ from using fossil fuels in a bid to ramp up the use of renewable energy sources.
This is the first time since the genesis of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in 1995 there has been a heavily-approved global pact from attendees which explicitly calls for a stepping back from the use of fossil fuels – gas, oil and coal – that are dangerously heating the planet.
The milestone deal also puts forward the intention of transitioning away from fossil fuels as part of an overarching journey to cut all emissions globally and triple renewables by 2050.
COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said in his closing remarks:
“Together, we have confronted realities and we have set the world in the right direction. We have given it a robust action plan to keep 1.5 within reach. It is a plan that is led by the science. It is a balanced plan, that tackles emissions, bridges the gap on adaptation, reimagines global finance, and delivers on loss and damage,” referring to the shared goal of reducing the planet’s temperature to 1.5 degrees celsius.
The landmark deal comes after an initial pushback on the proposal from major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia and Iraq as well as fast-growing countries like India and Nigeria. Many African countries strongly opposed the phaseout call, arguing that Africa is responsible for only a tiny fraction of emissions and should be allowed to exploit its own considerable oil and gas reserves in order to grow their economies before switching to cleaner forms of energy, as reported by the New York Times.
The proposal comes after heavy contemplation in reported all-night sessions from attendees over the precise language to be used in the deal.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) environmentalist group said the final agreement was a “sorely needed” improvement “but still falls short of calling for the full phaseout of coal, oil and gas”.
