UN pact reiterates Cop 28 fossil fuels transition goal

Heads of states and governments have adopted a pact that includes wording agreed at last year's UN Cop 28 climate summit on "transitioning away from fossil fuels".

The 'Pact for the future' was agreed yesterday, ahead of the UN general assembly which is starting tomorrow. In the section focusing on climate change, the pact reuses the entire energy section from the Cop 28 outcome text, including recognising "the need for deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5°C pathways" and "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner".

Russia sought to defer the adoption of the pact, saying other delegations did not back the text and calling support for the document "hypocritical". But Moscow drew only limited support from countries such as Venezuela, Syria and Iran.

Climate groups welcomed the mention of fossil fuels in the pact, but pointed out that the Cop 28 text, which was adopted after lengthy negotiations in Dubai last year, has yet to translate into concrete plans for transitioning away from fossil fuels, including from richer nations. At the start of this year, major oil producer Saudi Arabia described the energy section of the Cop 28 text as an "a la carte" menu and said developed countries should take the lead in phasing down fossil fuels production.

The UN described yesterday's pact as the "culmination of an inclusive, years-long process to adapt international co-operation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow". It is the "most wide-ranging international agreement" in many years and "aims above all to ensure that international institutions can deliver in the face of a world that has changed dramatically since they were created", the UN said.

It includes topics such as peace and security, sustainable development, climate and finance, digital co-operation, youth and future generations, and human rights and gender.

Heads of states and governments agreed to accelerate reform of the international financial architecture to mobilise additional financing for sustainable development goals, inviting multilateral development banks "to present options and recommendations on new approaches to improve access to concessional finance for developing countries". They also committed to support developing countries to attract private-sector investment in sustainable development through the use of public financing.

Public financing from developed countries is at the heart of current negotiations to set a new climate finance goal to support developing countries — to build on the previous $100bn/yr target. The new goal, the so-called new collective quantified goal (NCQG), should be agreed during the Cop 29 talks in November this year, but technical negotiations have failed to progress. At the end of last week, Germany signalled that the new financial target will likely be agreed "at the last minute" during the summit and complained that the focus of Cop 29 should not only be on finance but also on progressing ambitions on mitigation — actions to reduce emissions.

By Caroline Varin