The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting leads the discussion on how to limit and prepare for future climate change. It aims to support the goal of the Paris agreement in 2015 to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C, which would avoid the most damaging effects of climate change. The focus is on the "phase-out" of fossil fuels or at least a "phase-down" of their use; this being considered the primary indicator of success at the meeting.
The conference concentrates on issues such as burden-sharing, historical responsibility, costs, science and how politics has been influenced by changes in government in some key countries. Climate finance is one of the leading conflicts as the world's poorest countries are most at risk in terms of loss and damage, even though they have arguably contributed the least towards climate change. Developing countries demand the right to keep using fossil fuels in order to achieve economic growth while developing countries remain unwilling to take on the costs to cover this, and the financial impact of extreme weather. Recovery from extreme weather such as hurricanes and typhoons can take years so these countries need financial support to recover and so that they can cut emissions while still maintaining economic growth.
The release of an initial draft agreement from this years' conference calls for "reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner" without addressing contentious requests for a "phase-out" or "phase down" which has been debated between more than 190 countries. Although some observers were pleased with the first mention of reducing fossil fuel production in a COP text, UN COP28 summit delegates characterised the text as "grossly insufficient" and "incoherent" and believe it will not help to avoid dangerous climate breakdown.
An umbrella group of countries including the UK, Australia, Canada, the US and Japan said the draft is too weak and have demanded a stronger agreement. The text does not include any strong language, timelines or the financial mechanisms to aid poor countries. Complaints highlighted that hardly any of the verbs used in the text require or compel action and despite it emphasising that the use of fossil fuels must fall, it makes no reference to the necessary rate of change.
Ultimately, the agreement does not require producers to cut or "phase-out" their output of fossil fuels but presents the reductions as optional, indicating that countries should "take actions that could include" reducing fossil fuels.
