DUBAI: Countries at the COP28 climate talks need to stop posturing, aim high and agree on a way to end the “fossil fuel era as we know it”, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said on Wednesday, as tension over the future of coal, oil and gas came to the fore.

Stiell was speaking as the two-week conference approa­ches its midpoint when attention turns to behind-the-scenes negotiations, following the opening flurry of anno­uncements.

“All governments must give their negotiators clear marching orders. We need highest ambition, not point-scoring or lowest common denominator politics,” Stiell told a news conference.

The United Arab Emirates said more than $83 billion had been mobilised during the first five days of the event. US climate envoy John Kerry said it had been “a pretty damn good week” so far, but that the pace of emissions cutting had to be accelerated.

Debate sizzles over future of coal, oil and gas

“I’m not telling you that everybody’s going to come ‘kumbaya’ to the table. But I am telling you, we’re going to make a best effort to get the best agreement we can to move as far as we can as fast as we can,” Kerry told a news conference. With the world far offtrack in meeting its climate goals, Stiell urged the delegations to make progress that matters.

“There are many options that are on the table right now which speak to the phasing out of fossil fuels. It is for parties to unpick that, but come up with a very clear statement that signals the terminal decline of the fossil fuel era as we know it.”

Fossil fuel debate

The fate of oil, gas and coal — the main drivers of human-caused planet heating — has been the biggest sticking point on the agenda, and divisions around their future have dominated the conference.

“We have a starting text on the table, but it’s a grab bag of … wish lists and heavy on posturing,” UN climate chief Simon Stiell told a news conference.

“At the end of next week, we need COP to deliver a bullet train to speed up climate action. We currently have an old caboose chugging over rickety tracks.”

Urging embattled COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber to ease differences, Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said: “We expect from the COP president to be an honest broker and we expect leadership.” The Alliance of Small Islands States, which includes some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, called for “major emitters to enhance their commitments”.

“If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic,” the alliance’s chairman Cedric Schuster said.

‘Orderly and just’

Battle lines have previously been drawn on whether to agree to “phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuels. However the latest text includes a new phrase calling for an “orderly and just” phase-out. One person familiar with the talks said the word “orderly” came from Jaber, who also heads UAE national oil company ADNOC.

The language could signal a consensus candidate as it would give countries different timelines to cut emissions depending on their level of development and reliance on fossil fuels.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2023