Nina Lakhani
First takes from non-profit analysts are coming in, writes Nina Lakhani, and the overall consensus is that the new global stocktake draft text is a significant improvement on the last, especially the shift from “should” to “calls on” – but still not as strong as had been hoped a few days ago. There is too much emphasis on unproven technological fixes – which one analyst calls “false solutions” – such as carbon capture and hydrogen, which climate scientists have long said can only ever play a niche role in cutting greenhouse gasses.
“Overall we get a clear signal to phase out fossil fuels… It is not the most ambitious outcome that we could have landed at this Cop given the momentum from over a hundred countries demanding strong language on this, but it’s a step forward,” said Amos Wemanya, senior advisor, Renewable Energy and Just Transitions. “But we still have a lot of false solutions in the text.”
Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network, said:
“This text truly represents the paradox that is Cop28. On the one hand we’ve seen the most visible ever capture of the process by oil and gas lobbyists, and on the other hand, you’ve seen a record momentum to finally tackle the root cause.
We see in the text the need to transition away from fossil fuels, which is a significant improvement from the last text, on the other hand, opening the door to not only dangerous technological distractions like blue hydrogen, nuclear, but the reference to traditional fuels being acceptable, which is a myth, being promoted by the LNG industry and is not grounded in science.”
On the draft Global Goal on Adaptation outcome, which developing countries including the African groups have been pushing on for eight years, Brouillette said: “The global goal on adaptation text is still a hollow commitment, as there’s no means of implementation attached to the targets. One perhaps positive small step forward is that the reference to Article 2.1C [linking adaptation to private finance] has been removed.”
Patrick Greenfield
Our reporters are up early in the UAE. Here’s the first dispatch from Patrick Greenfield.
Good morning from Dubai where, after a very long wait, the second text is finally with us. The crucial language on fossil fuels has been changed from the previous version after uproar from island states, the EU, NGOs and many others. It now reads:
“Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”
I am back on site at Cop28, where it is still very quiet. The sun is rising over the giant dome in the middle of the Expo Centre and returning delegates are being greeted with news that coffee shops are open in some areas. This is good news: today could be a long one.
Some people have spent the night here waiting for news about the text, sleeping in the corridors and pavilions of the giant convention centre. The last few days have been exhausting for negotiators in particular and, I am sure, the UAE presidency, who is tasked with bringing the opinions of the world together for the final text package.
Delegations will be digesting the documents ahead of a final plenary in the next few hours. Will this be enough for small islands states fighting for their survival, for whom 1.5C is a matter of life and death, or will they reject it? Can petrostates accept this indication that the fossil fuel era is ending? Are developing countries happy with the text on adapting to a new economic system? We will find out today.
We do not yet know if this is a final text, a “take it or leave it” offer to the world, or whether another round of negotiations will be needed. These talks famously drag on. The negotiation venue will be closed on Friday, we have been told, so parties need to get moving.
Hello, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of what it is hoped will be the final stretch of the Cop28 climate conference. After the UAE presidency’s first text of the global stocktake – the main document being discussed at the summit – was widely condemned as not being ambitious enough, a second draft has now been published.
The proposed agreement calls on nations to transition away from fossil fuels to avert the worst impacts of climate change, writes my colleague Adam Morton.
The latest draft text, released early on Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates, does not include a commitment to phase out or phase down fossil fuels, as many countries, civil society groups and scientists have urged.
Instead, it called on countries to contribute to global efforts to transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems “in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.
Read the full story here:
The first iteration of this text was widely criticised. Reaction so far to the second is mixed. We’ll follow the latest developments here.
I’m Natalie Hanman and you can contact me on natalie.hanman@theguardian.com with any feedback or comments. Thank you for reading the Guardian.
Catch up on our full coverage of Cop28 here.
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