Cop: Cop 28 Fossil fuel deal strong even if imperfect

Countries today hailed the progress made at the UN Cop 28 climate summit, in an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, but pointed to potential loopholes and more focus needed on financial support for developing countries.

Almost 200 countries agreed earlier today on "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems".

US climate envoy John Kerry said that "this is a moment when multilateralism has come together". Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must agree unanimously on any final outcome. "This document sends very strong messages to the world," Kerry added, calling the language on fossil fuels "clear".

"This text is... not perfect, but it lays the foundation…", Bangladeshi climate envoy Saber Hossain Chowdhury said today. "Of course we would have liked more", he added.

It is the first time that the idea of curbing all fossil fuels has appeared in a final outcome from a Cop. A reference to a "phase down" of coal — the most polluting fossil fuel — was included two years ago, at Cop 26.

"Whilst we didn't turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end", UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell said today. A broad coalition of countries, including the EU, the Umbrella Group — a UN voting bloc including the UK and US — and small island developing states had called for a phase out of all fossil fuels.

Samoa lead negotiator Anne Rasmussen, speaking on behalf of the alliance of small island states, noted that the group was not in the room when the decision was adopted. She said the text contained "good elements" but added that "the course correction that was needed has not been secured".

The EU today welcomed the deal, including on the pledge to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency, both by 2030.

"This outcome is not perfect... it reflects the very lowest possible ambition that we could accept", chair of the least developed countries UN voting group Madeleine Diouf Sarr said.

The UK's climate minister, Graham Stuart, echoed her comments. "There are elements here that we do not like", but "we are unified around a common commitment to move away from fossil fuels", he said today.

Diouf Sarr and representatives of small island nations — which are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change — expressed concern over potential loopholes. The text "recognises that transitional fuels can play a role in facilitating the energy transition while ensuring energy security", which is interpreted by many as leaving a door open for natural gas or LNG.

"We want to raise the alarm that transitional fuels will become permanent, especially in developing countries", climate change ambassador for Antigua and Barbuda Diann Black-Layne said today. Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock today raised the question of what the "energy systems" mentioned in the text could entail.

Oil and gas producing countries Qatar and Saudi Arabia pointed to what the former said was an "absence of equity". Both countries complained that the deal was focusing on the source of emissions — fossil fuels — instead of focusing on their reduction.

Developed countries should "enhance" support "for realising sustainable development" in developing nations, China's representative said. The text recognised that climate finance should "increase manyfold" and pointed to the trillions of dollars needed, though the process cannot mandate financial contributions.

By Georgia Gratton