New draft COP final text does not mention phasing out fossil fuels

The UN climate body published this Monday (11) its latest draft of the agreement it hopes to reach at the COP28 summit in Dubai, which includes a series of actions that countries can take to reduce emissions.

The list does not directly refer to a phase-out of fossil fuels.

The relevant section of the text said that the parties recognize “the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and urges the parties to take measures that may include, inter alia:

(a) Triple renewable energy capacity globally and double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvement by 2030;

(b) The rapid phasing out of undegraded coal and limitations on the authorization of new, undegraded coal-fired electricity production;

(c) Accelerate global efforts towards net-zero emission energy systems using zero- and low-carbon emission fuels well before or mid-century;

(d) Accelerate zero- and low-emissions technologies, including, inter alia, renewable, nuclear, reduction and removal technologies, including carbon capture, utilization and storage, and the production of low-carbon hydrogen, from to increase efforts to replace unabated fossil fuels in energy systems;

(e) Reducing consumption and production of fossil fuels in a fair, orderly and equitable manner to achieve net zero by, before or around 2050, in accordance with science;

(f) Accelerate and substantially reduce non-CO2 emissions, including, in particular, methane emissions globally by 2030;

(g) Accelerate emission reductions from road transport through a range of pathways, including infrastructure development and rapid deployment of low- and zero-emission vehicles;

(h) Phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption and do not address energy poverty or transitions as quickly as possible;”