The UN Cop 28 climate conference in Dubai could call for "transitioning away" from fossil fuel use to help achieve net-zero global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, according to a new draft negotiating text obtained by Argus.
The text, provided to Argus by a Cop observer, seeks to bridge the divide between countries calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels and those who oppose such language, as the talks went into overtime on Tuesday.
The draft calls for countries to begin "transitioning away from fossil fuels in our energy systems, beginning in this decade, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science."
A previous version of the text, released on Monday, called on countries to take action including "reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels" but did not mention a phase-out of all fossil fuels.
The new draft largely keeps the language around fossil fuel use and energy transition, such as stopping the use of unabated coal-fired electricity generation, of the previous version intact.
The talks were scheduled to end today but are spilling over into Wednesday — a common occurrence at the UN conferences — as negotiators try to hammer out the final details. Language around curbing all fossil fuels has never been included in a Cop outcome text,
The text is for the global stocktake, which is the main outcome for the summit this year, measuring progress against Paris climate agreement goals. The Paris agreement sets a goal of limiting global warming to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial averages, and preferably to 1.5°C.
