As COP28 draws to a close on Tuesday evening, no compromise on fossil fuels has yet been found. Without sufficient commitment, the Paris agreement could fall apart.
The COP28 agenda included obtaining an agreement text this Tuesday. But while negotiations continued late into the night in Dubai, the day after the rejection of the first draft text, still no second version on the horizon. “Perhaps early tomorrow morning,” estimated the American envoy John Kerry, echoed by TV5 Monde. And nevertheless assures: “But we are progressing!”
On Monday, the text prepared by the United Arab Emirates was widely criticized. This in fact no longer mentioned the expression “exit” from fossil fuels and instead called for a “reduction in both the consumption and production of fossil fuels in a fair, orderly and equitable manner, so as to achieve net zero [carbon neutrality] by, before or around 2050, as recommended by science,” relays Le Monde. A text deemed insufficient for a number of NGOs and countries, who are calling for further strengthening of the ambition to move away from fossil fuels.
Because the stakes are colossal. The president of COP28 himself, Sultan Al-Jaber, announced at the end of November, at the start of the 2023 Dubai Conference on climate change, a “historic” COP whose aim was nothing more and nothing less than saving the Paris climate agreement. Agreement which aims to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C by the end of the century, with the pre-industrial level as a reference point, Franceinfo recalls. At the end of COP28, all the lights are red. And even if a second version were adopted, the chances of finding ambitious commitments there seem largely compromised at this stage. However, without radical commitment, the Paris agreement will not be respected.
