DUBAI: The head of UN climate talks pressed nations on Friday to move fast to deliver an “unprecedented” pact on tackling global warming, as negotiators scrambled to bridge differences over phasing out fossil fuels.

While UN climate talks rarely finish on time, COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber has set the ambitious goal of wrapping up the summit in Dubai on schedule on Tuesday morning.

Jaber said he wanted negotiators to produce a new draft deal on Friday. A draft deal was released earlier on Tuesday but negotiators failed to produce another text on Wednesday before heading into the break.

Climate negotiators laid out new proposals on phasing out fossil fuels in a draft deal on Friday as they scrambled to reach a compromise at crunch UN talks in Dubai. They published an updated text with more options for nearly 200 nations to consider.

One option that remains on the table is to effectively sidestep the whole thorny issue of phasing out or down fossil fuels, and instead have “no text” on hydrocarbons. But the 27-page document offers other ways to deal with oil, gas and coal.

Two of the options call for a phase-out of fossil fuels “in line with best available science”. Two other proposals include language on phasing out “unabated” fossil fuels — meaning those that lack the technology to capture and store their emissions.

A new option also appeared in another section that calls for the tripling of global renewable energy capacity by 2030 “to displace fossil fuel-based energy, thereby significantly reducing global reliance on non-renewable and high-emission energy sources.” The language slightly mirrors a major agreement between the US and China, the world’s top emitters of greenhouse gases, at talks in California last month.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2023