World unites for transition away from fossil fuels in fight against climate change

AFP | Dubai                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The world for the first time yesterday approved a call to transition away from fossil fuels as UN negotiations in Dubai tackled the top culprit behind climate change, but at-risk countries said far more action was needed.

After 13 days of talks and several sleepless nights in a country built on oil wealth, the Emirati president of the COP28 summit quickly banged a gavel to signal consensus among 194 countries and the European Union.

“You did step up, you showed flexibility, you put common interest ahead of self-interest,” said COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, whose role as head of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company had raised suspicion among many environmentalists.

Describing the deal as bringing “transformational change”, Jaber said: “We have helped restore faith and trust in multilateralism, and we have shown that humanity can come together.”

‘Long overdue’

EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra called the agreement “long, long overdue”, saying it had taken nearly 30 years of climate meetings to “arrive at the beginning of the end of fossil fuels”.

But with the UN talks requiring consensus, Jaber carefully calibrated the text to bring onboard countries from islands that fear extinction from rising sea levels to oil giant Saudi Arabia, which led the charge to keep exporting its petroleum.

Toughening language from an earlier draft that was roundly denounced by environmentalists, the agreement calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.

It asks for greater action “in this critical decade” and recommits to no net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in hopes of meeting the increasingly elusive goal of checking warming at 1.5 degrees (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Clearest endorsement

But US climate envoy John Kerry hailed the deal as the clearest endorsement yet of 1.5 degrees and indicated he worked to win over Saudi Arabia.

“I think there were times in the last 48 hours where some of us thought this could fail,” Kerry said. But he said: “A number of countries that produce oil and gas - you know who they are - they stepped up and said, you know, we want this to succeed.”