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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/11/cop28-draft-agreement-calls-for-fossil-fuel-cuts-but-avoids-phase-out>
"A draft deal to cut global fossil fuel production is “grossly insufficient”
and “incoherent” and will not stop the world from facing dangerous climate
breakdown, according to delegates at the UN’s Cop28 summit.
The text put forward by the summit presidency after 10 days of wrangling was
received with concern and anger by many climate experts and politicians, though
others welcomed elements of the draft including the first mention in a Cop text
of reducing fossil fuel production.
Some countries are despairing that the text does not require a full phase-out
of fossil fuels.
Cedric Schuster of Samoa, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said:
“We will not sign our death certificate. We cannot sign on to text that does
not have strong commitments on phasing out fossil fuels.”
The Cop28 presidency released a draft text in the early evening on Monday,
which called for “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in
a just, orderly and equitable manner, so as to achieve net zero by, before or
around 2050, in keeping with the science”.
The text avoids highly contentious calls for a “phase-out” or “phase-down” of
fossil fuels, which have been the focus of deep disagreement among the more
than 190 countries meeting in Dubai.
But instead of requiring fossil fuel producers to cut their output, it frames
such reductions as optional, by calling on countries to “take actions that
could include” reducing fossil fuels. “That one word ‘could’ just kills
everything,” said Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s environment minister, adding that the
EU could walk out of the talks if the text did not improve.
“We can’t accept this text,” Ryan said. “It’s not anywhere near ambitious
enough. It’s not broad enough. It’s not what parties have been calling for … we
have to stitch climate justice into every part of this text and we are not
anywhere near that yet.”
The text is expected to form the key outcome of this fortnight of fraught talks
on the future of climate action, which are scheduled to end on Tuesday morning
in the United Arab Emirates.
If the language on fossil fuels survives an expected onslaught from the
negotiators of big oil-producing countries, it would mark the first time that
countries were being asked under the UN framework convention on climate change
to reduce their fossil fuel production."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
