Historic climate deal takes ‘minimal’ action as world heats, burns and floods

If ever there was a year to call for bold global action against climate change, 2023 was it.

In what will likely go down as the hottest year on record – a year of devastating floods, scorching heatwaves, devastating wildfires and persistent drought – leaders from nearly 200 countries have come together to chart a path forward in combating climate change.

After more than two weeks of tense negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP28, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, representatives from 198 countries decided on Wednesday to “move away” from fossil fuels.

It was a historic agreement, but it fell short once again for many climate activists, who saw it as further evidence that efforts to address climate change are moving too slowly and are compromised by fossil fuel interests.

Former Vice President Al Gore called the agreement “an important milestone” but added that acknowledging the role burning of fossil fuels plays in the climate crisis “is the bare minimum we need and is long overdue.”

“Whether this is truly a turning point that signals the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel age depends on the actions that come next and the mobilization of the financing needed to achieve them,” Gore wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.

Skepticism about what happens next is understandable. The COP agreement’s lack of a concrete plan to eliminate the use of fossil fuels adds to growing concern that the big-picture moves needed to avoid serious environmental consequences are falling short. Of course, the rise of clean energy technology and broader public awareness of global warming have encouraged some optimism, but many environmentalists emphasize that these developments won’t mean much unless there is a significant reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere.

The age of fossil fuels “must end,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Wednesday, adding that science shows it would be impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) without eliminating their use.

He wrote of X: “Whether you like it or not, fossil fuel phase-out is inevitable. Let’s hope it’s not too late.”

The COP28 climate summit was controversial from the beginning. The host country, the UAE, is an oil-rich country and the chairman of the meeting, Sultan al-Jaber, is the chief executive of ADNOC, the UAE’s state oil company.

Earlier in the conference, Al-Jaber faced criticism for claiming in an online event in late November that there was “no science” to support the need to phase out fossil fuels to limit global warming, as first reported by The Guardian.

The incident comes at a time when there is waning belief that oil companies are committed to reducing fossil fuel emissions. While major oil and gas companies have previously signaled they would switch to clean energy and do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they have backed away from most of those bets in the past year. While critics accuse the industry of “greenwashing”, companies have stepped up exploration and hundreds of new oil and gas projects have been approved around the world.

During the meeting, which also featured overtime negotiations, critics questioned how much could be achieved on fossil fuels under Al-Jaber’s leadership, held in Dubai. These fears came to the fore when it became clear that the final agreement would not commit to phasing out fossil fuels.

Although the terms “transition” and “phasing out” sound similar, there are important distinctions between them. Phase out means that their use in energy systems will eventually be eliminated, while “transition” represents a compromise and implies that their use will be discontinued but will still continue.

Nate Hultman, a former State Department official and founder and director of the University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability, said it was an open question heading into the conference whether world leaders would seriously discuss the future of fossil fuels.

“There was a risk that this would be an exercise in avoiding trouble,” he said.

But Hultman said the final agreement, which calls on countries to equitably “transition” away from fossil fuels, triple the amount of installed renewable energy by 2030 and stem leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, makes clear that world leaders are considering a future without fossil fuels .

“The result shows that this issue is not only widely discussed but also highlighted in the text. There are good and strong elements,” said Hultman, who attended his 21st COP this year. “Sending that kind of signal about moving away from fossil fuels is going to be important.”

Still, the agreement is not binding, and its critics — especially leaders of poor, developing countries and island nations disproportionately affected by climate change — have said the agreement does not go far enough to eliminate fossil fuels and keep the world below 1.5 degrees Celsius. warming.

Many climate scientists and activists have expressed disappointment that calls to “phase out” fossil fuels have been significantly watered down.

“The agreement that emerged from COP28 rightly emphasizes nature as a solution, but the lack of recognition of the need to phase out the use of fossil fuels is disheartening,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president of conservation and justice at the nonprofit National Wildlife Federation. He said in a statement on Wednesday.

Emotions ran high as drafts of the agreement emerged earlier in the week. “COP28 is now on the verge of total failure,” Gore wrote on X on Monday.

Finally, for the first time in nearly 30 years of UN summits, countries agreed that a transition away from fossil fuels is necessary to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or thereabouts and avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

At previous COP meetings, merely mentioning what the elephant in the room was was hailed as a major milestone.

“The fact that phasing out fossil fuels has become center stage on the international stage was difficult to imagine five years ago, and it was a significant advance,” said Michael Lazarus, senior scientist and director of the Stockholm Environment Institute USA. , is headquartered in Seattle. “This means fossil fuels now have a shelf life, an expiration date. “We are at a point where we can imagine moving away from fossil fuels.”

Lazarus said the consensual nature of the international process — each country participating in the negotiations effectively has veto power — makes global progress a grind.

“People talk about this being just words and not action, but the rhetoric coming out of these international meetings has a remarkable resonance and ability to change the conversation,” Lazarus said. “Unless we have a global understanding of action to phase out fossil fuels and reduce emissions across the board, countries won’t have the same incentives to act in the ways they need.”

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.