Anger and frustration as COP28 draft text omits fossil fuel phaseout

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The draft text for a COP28 climate deal that does not include the phasing out of fossil fuels has drawn widespread criticism from major players, highlighting enduring rifts on the international summit’s final day.

The document, published by the United Arab Emirates’ presidency of the climate summit, stressed the need to reduce emissions, but did not call for the doing away of fossil fuels altogether. Scientists say fossil fuels are the single biggest factor contributing to potentially life-threatening climate change.

Delegates from the U.S., European Union and climate-vulnerable countries like many in Africa and the Pacific Islands issued urgent warnings over the draft deal, putting them at odds with many oil-producing countries.

Wopke Hoekstra, the EU’s chief COP28 negotiator, told press that the draft was “clearly insufficient and not adequate to addressing the problem we are here to address.”

“That is not because we want it, the minister or I want it, or the Europeans want it,” Hoekstra said. “Because scientists are crystal clear about what is needed and on the top of that list is phasing out fossil fuel because there is a direct [correlation] between doing that and making sure we get the earth, we get people out of harm’s way.”

U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry expressed similar concerns, saying: “We’re not where we’re meant to be in terms of the text … Many of us have called for the world to largely phase out fossil fuels, and that starts with a critical reduction this decade.”

“This is a war for survival,” he added.

The burning of coal, oil and gas accounts for more than three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is for this reason that so many had pushed for the COP28 outcome to show that “we are truly at the beginning of the end of the…