COP28 scrambles to agree a new draft deal after dismay over failing to call for fossil fuels to be phased out
The United Arab Emirates, host of the COP28 climate summit, said on Tuesday it would seek consensus on a new draft agreement after widespread criticism of language on fossil fuels.
Majid Al Suwaidi, director-general of COP28, played down attacks on Monday’s text, saying the Emirati host was checking countries’ red lines and working on another project.
“We need to work on how we incorporate their views into the text in a way that everyone is happy with and so that we can move forward to meet the goals” of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, he told reporters.
“I think what happened with our text was really that we had honest, practical, pragmatic conversations about where the red lines actually are for people,” he said.
“The main thing is to achieve consensus.”
One protester denounces fossil fuel use during COP28
According to the rules of the UN climate convention, agreements require the consensus of all participants – almost 200 countries.
Saudi Arabia has led a campaign against calls from vulnerable countries and Western powers to phase out oil, gas and coal, which are the main contributors to the planet’s climate crisis.
“We’ve known for a long time that the language around fossil fuels is complicated,” he said.
“There are those who want a phase-out, there are those who want a phase-out. There are those who want different formulations,” he said.
“The point is to reach consensus, and we don’t want one wording to cause blockages in that process.”
Negotiators are already working past a deadline set by the Emirates to complete the work in time for the official close of the 13-day conference at 11am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday.
“We would all like to finish on time, but we all want to be as ambitious as possible. This is our only goal,” Suwaidi said.
Mr Kerry, who was confronted by climate activists as he left the meeting, described the push to reach the 1.5C target as a “war for survival”.
The proposed agreement outlined a number of actions that countries “could” take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, but were not required to take them.
“I, like most of you here, refuse to participate in the farce” of refusing to phase out fossil fuels, he said.
Some Pacific island nations said the text surrounding the 1.5C warming target amounted to a death sentence.
“For us it is a matter of survival. We cannot create loopholes in the future of our children,” said Tuvalu head of delegation Sev Paniu, adding that the proposed text “does not even come close to providing 1.5 as the North Star.”
Cedric Schuster of Samoa, who heads the Alliance of Small Island States, said its members felt their voices were not heard.
“We will not sign the death certificate,” he said. “We cannot sign a text that does not have a firm commitment to phasing out fossil fuels.
“Throughout this process we have been asked what will be at stake if these negotiations do not lead to a convincing outcome that keeps 1.5 alive. How can you not understand that our very survival is at stake?”
Zhao Yingming, China’s vice minister for ecology and environment, said at the meeting that “the draft does not take into account the concerns of developing countries on some key issues,” particularly the idea that greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2025.
Despite criticism and accusations, Saudi Arabia and other oil states remained steadfast in their approach to the deal.
The country’s representative at the climate summit, Noura Alissa, publicly said the agreement “must work for everyone.”
“It has to be relevant, it has to make sense to accelerate action for every country in this room, not some and not others,” she added.
Negotiations are due to end on Tuesday, when a revised text is expected to be presented, but many observers expect it to be overdue.