COP28 embarked on its eleventh day, with the release of a draft agreement stirring controversy amid ongoing challenges in achieving a fossil fuel phase-out. The United Nations-led climate summit, COP28, extended into its eleventh day, well beyond the scheduled midday conclusion. The release of a draft agreement on Monday, calling for the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and production in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, triggered dissatisfaction among countries advocating for a swift phase-out of coal, oil, and gas.
Tina Stege, the climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, criticized the draft as a “meaningless wish list” that questions the science and falls short of addressing the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5℃. With Earth on track to set a record for the hottest year, concerns about the impact on human health and the rise of costly extreme weather events intensified.
Despite European efforts to strengthen the document, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock acknowledged the difficulty of reaching a consensus by midday Tuesday. Bangladesh’s climate envoy, Saber Chowdhury, announced plans for a revised text, taking into account participants’ feedback, to be presented on Tuesday morning.
The final decisions at COPs require consensus, but activists expressed fears that objections from major oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, may have diluted the text. Saudi Arabia’s Noura Alissa emphasized the deal must work for all, avoiding favoritism among countries.
Developing nations, including Botswana, resisted a fossil-fuel phaseout, citing the unfairness of wealthy nations denying them the same opportunities they had to use and profit from coal, oil, and gas. China and the US, the top contributors to planet-warming emissions, opposed the draft text, with concerns raised about the absence of peak emissions targets by 2025.
The 21-page document notably lacked explicit references to oil and natural gas, mentioning coal only twice. Carbon capture, a debated emissions reduction technology, received a single mention.
As COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber urged action, criticism mounted, with former US Vice President and climate activist Al Gore describing the draft as a potential failure. Despite a round of applause for US climate envoy John Kerry’s impassioned remarks against the insufficient language on fossil fuels, activists confronted him, demanding more substantial action for the sake of their future.
