World representives unanimously adopted on Wednesday the first historic agreement on climate, which calls for a “transition” towards gradually abandoning fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas, which are responsible for global warming.
The text, which came as a result of lengthy negotiations during which the negotiators arrived within the framework of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) held in Dubai, was approved by consensus and without any objection from among about 200 countries present at the closing session of the conference.
At the opening of the plenary session, the delegates adopted the agreement, which was met with warm applause from those present. The head of the Emirati conference, Sultan Al Jaber, said: It is a “historic” decision to accelerate climate action.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres considered that the era of fossil fuels “must end,” while US climate envoy John Kerry said: The Dubai agreement “calls for optimism” in a world suffering from conflicts.
France also praised, through Minister Agnes Pannier-Ronache, who is in Dubai, “the victory of multilateralism and climate diplomacy,” welcoming the inclusion of nuclear energy in the agreement.
“For the first time in 30 years, we can now be getting closer to the beginning of the end for fossil fuels,” European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said before the session. “We are taking an important, very important step” to keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The text of the agreement calls for “a transition away from the use of fossil fuels in energy systems, in a fair, orderly and equitable manner, by accelerating action in this crucial decade to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 in line with what science recommends.”
The agreement also recognized the role of “transitional energy sources,” in reference to gas, in ensuring “energy security” in developing countries where about 800 million people are still deprived of electricity.
The agreement includes a call to triple renewable energy capacity, double the pace of energy efficiency improvement by 2030, and accelerate technologies with “zero carbon” or “low carbon” emissions, including nuclear energy, low-carbon hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage technologies.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq rejected any agreement affecting oil and gas. But it did not obstruct the approval of the agreement.
On its part, the Samoa Islands expressed the concerns of small island states. The Alliance of Island States, which is at the forefront of calls for strong measures to phase out fossil fuels, said that the agreement represents an “improvement” but “does not provide the balance necessary to strengthen global action to correct the course on climate change.”
In order to adopt this agreement, which was described as “historic,” it had to be approved by all states parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as the objection of one country could have prevented this.
The first proposed draft of the agreement sparked protests on Monday because it did not call for “eliminating” polluting energy sources, the burning of which since the 19th century has been largely responsible for the current rise in global temperatures of 1.2 degrees Celsius.
So far, only a “reduction” target for coal use has been set at COP26 in Glasgow.
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