For the first time in the nearly 30-year history of the United Nations summit on climate change, all nations gathered unanimously agreed to a resolution that called for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” and committed member states to tripling existing green-energy infrastructure by 2030.
The nearly 200 member countries gathered at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai agreed to transition away from fossil fuels “in a just, orderly and equitable manner” before entirely eliminating carbon emissions by 2050. While previous U.N. climate agreements committed member states to work toward slowing global warming, the deal announced Wednesday was the first to include an explicit commitment to do away with “fossil fuels.” As part of an effort to stop global temperatures from rising another 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next decade, member states agreed to triple their existing green energy infrastructure, including solar panels and wind turbines, by 2030.
In keeping with United Nations traditions, no deals can be passed without unanimous consent of all diplomats present. OPEC nations proved the most unwilling to cooperate with the other nations present. Saudi Arabia, as the world’s leading exporter of oil, was the greatest hurdle to agreement. The Saudi delegation ensured that the language of a total fossil fuel “phaseout” was vetoed from the resolution, allowing only the term “transitioning away from.”
Sultan Al Jaber presided over the summit, which was held at a glittering convention center in the United Arab Emirates. An Emirati official and owner of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Al Jaber received pushback over the apparent conflict of interest between his $150 billion investments in the oil industry and his leadership in climate change talks.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who has denounced fossil fuels throughout his career, criticized Al Jaber in a scathing email:
“From the moment this absurd masquerade began, it was only a matter of time before his preposterous disguise no longer concealed the reality of the most brazen conflict of interest in the history of climate negotiations. Obviously, the world needs to phaseout fossil fuels as quickly as possible.”
Both nations that rely on the fossil fuel industry for their state economy, and developing nations that rely on fossil fuels to continue their upward trajectory, questioned the realism and equity of a universal call to transition away from fossil fuels.
Al Jaber said during a panel discussion at the summit: “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5 . . . Please, help me, show me a road map for a phaseout of fossil fuels that will allow for sustainable socioeconomic development, unless you want to take the world back into caves.”
Nigeria’s environmental minister, Ishaq Salako, said “Asking Nigeria, or indeed, asking Africa, to phase out fossil fuels is like asking us to stop breathing without life support. It is not acceptable and it is not possible.”
The deal from the summit, over 20 pages in length, is not legally binding. The resolution serves as a political call upon participatory nations to act accordingly.
The resolution emphasized language that focused on equity, gender equality, and social justice, calling on member states to advance their environmental agenda while simultaneously protecting “the right to health, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity.”