What’s Missing From the COP28 Climate Deal
Source: By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni, New York Times • Posted: Wednesday, December 13, 2023
The agreement calls for phasing out fossil fuels. But it also lets oil producers keep drilling and gives few specifics on how to fund a shift to greener energy.
The global challenge of phasing out fossil fuels
The COP28 climate summit wrapped up a few hours ago with a compromise agreement that calls on nations to move away from fossil fuels.
But the deal still gives energy-exporting giants like Saudi Arabia plenty of leeway to continue drilling and presents countries and investors with the huge challenge of how to fund a green-energy shift over the next few years.
Here’s what’s in the pact: pledges by countries to wean their economies off fossil fuels in a “just, orderly and equitable manner” this decade; triple their uptake of renewables by 2030; restrict methane emissions; and halt carbon emissions entirely by midcentury.
It’s the first explicit agreement to curb fossil fuel use in the roughly three decades of such multinational negotiations. Scientists say drastic cutbacks are needed to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
John Kerry, President Biden’s special climate envoy, said he was “in awe of the spirit of cooperation” among negotiators. And Dan Jorgensen, the Danish minister for climate and energy, marveled that such an agreement could be reached at a summit hosted by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.
Here’s what isn’t in it: tough language on outlawing construction of new coal-burning power plants and specific commitments to help finance poorer nations’ energy transitions. “Asking Nigeria, or indeed, asking Africa, to phase out fossil fuels is like asking us to stop breathing without life support,” said Ishaq Salako, Nigeria’s environmental minister.
Heading into the conference, there was deep skepticism among climate activists and scientists that the Emirates and other OPEC nations would try to water down any deal. And indeed, countries like Saudi Arabia were among those pushing back against efforts to craft a tougher pledge to fully phase out fossil fuels.
The deal is not legally binding. And some critics grumbled that it contained “cavernous loopholes” that would give countries producing fossil fuel incentives to continue oil exploration, including allowing room for “transitional fuels” like natural gas.
Investors didn’t appear worried about what the pledge might mean for the fossil fuel industry: Shares in Chevron and Exxon Mobil were up slightly in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Much work remains. One recent estimate suggests that trillions of dollars in investment is needed to transition to greener fuel sources like wind and solar and avert a climate catastrophe.
“We must transform the international financial system to pursue and achieve our climate goals,” Kerry told delegates. He added that policies were needed to encourage investment in green initiatives “and shift finance away from the things that put our shared prosperity at risk.”