At COP28, transition from fossil fuels agreed - but doubts remain

DUBAI - After nearly three decades of U.N. climate negotiations, countries agreed for the first time on Wednesday to begin moving the global economy away from fossil fuels, despite heavy push-back from oil states.

The COP28 summit called for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner ... so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science."

Bowing to pressure from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), however, the agreement did not call directly for phasing out oil and gas.

It also left open the door for growing use of "carbon capture and storage" to "abate" emissions from continuing fossil fuel use - something scientists warn will result in the world breaching its temperature goals.

Here's what officials, policy experts, scientists and activists had to say about the COP28 outcome:

Ottmar Edenhofer, climate economist and co-director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:

"There is now no more business-as-usual for the global economy. Now it’s about the end of the fossil fuel age – that is real progress."

Madeleine Diouf Sarr, chair, Least Developed Countries Group: 

"This outcome is not perfect - we expected more. It reflects the very lowest possible ambition that we could accept rather than what we know, according to the best available science, is necessary to urgently address the climate crisis.

"Limiting warming to 1.5 (degrees Celsius) is a matter of survival, and international cooperation remains key to ensuring it. Alignment with 1.5C not only requires countries to urgently reduce domestic emissions but also the delivery of significant climate finance."

Mohamed Adow, director, Power Shift Africa:

"For the first time in three decades of climate negotiations the words 'fossil fuels' have made it into a COP outcome. We are finally naming the elephant in the room. The genie is never going back into the bottle. Future COPs will only turn the screw even more on dirty energy."

Simon Stiell, U.N. climate chief:

"What I’m focused on is seeing these pledges converted into outcomes in the real economy, where the rubber really hits the road on climate action.

"COP28 also needed to signal a hard stop to humanity’s core climate problem - fossil fuels and their planet-burning pollution. Whilst we didn’t fully turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this is clearly the beginning of the end." 

John Silk, natural resources and commerce minister, Republic of the Marshall Islands:

"We have built a canoe with a weak and leaky hull, full of holes. Yet we have to put it into the water because we have no other option. As we have said, king tides are eating away at our shores. Our wells are filling with saltwater. Our families are at risk. And so we must sail this canoe."

Joab Okanda, senior climate advisor, Christian Aid:

“We now need to see rich countries following up their warm words about wanting a fossil fuel phase-out with actions to actually bring it about and end their use of coal, oil and gas by the end of this decade. 

"Rich fossil fuel-using countries will need to decarbonise first, with middle-income countries going next and then the poorest countries after that.”

Tasneem Essop, executive director, Climate Action Network International:

“In the hottest year on record, our collective power as people across the world resulted in the first ever signal that the world needs to transition away from fossil fuels, the major cause of the climate crisis.

"However, vulnerable peoples and countries cannot be left with the burden to fund this transition to address a crisis they did not cause."

Steve Trent, CEO, Environmental Justice Foundation:

“The devastating consequences of fossil fuel companies and petro-states capturing COP have become clear as the negotiations finish with an agreement which fails to include any mention of a phase-out of fossil fuels or peak (of) global emissions by 2025.

"While the vast majority of countries strongly back efforts to move away from fossil-fuel dependency, a handful, including Russia and the Saudi Arabia-led group of OPEC countries, hold back negotiations and block any meaningful change."

Mary Robinson, former Irish president and chair of The Elders:

"Climate action must not cease because the gavel has come down on COP28. World leaders must continue to urgently pull together and find ways forward to tackle this existential threat. Every day of delay condemns millions to an uninhabitable world.” 

Rachel Cleetus, policy director, Union of Concerned Scientists:

"Three decades after the first United Nations annual climate talks, this is a long overdue step, albeit with some loopholes, to address the root cause and primary driver of the climate crisis: fossil fuels.

"As the world puts these collective goals into action, richer nations like the United States have a responsibility to take the lead in quickly moving away from fossil fuels and providing scaled-up climate finance for developing countries."

Inger Andersen, executive director, U.N. Environment Programme:

"We must unleash far greater finance to support countries in a just, equitable and clean transition, which is especially important for developing nations that must leapfrog to low-carbon development."

Nafkote Dabi, climate change policy lead, Oxfam International:

“Justice is the key puzzle piece missing - and without proper funding on the table for low-income countries, we have nothing to celebrate as it means further debt and inequality."

Lili Fuhr, fossil economy program director, CIEL:

“Just a year ago at COP27, carbon capture and storage (CCS), was merely a loophole, unnoticed by most. At COP28, the question of ‘to abate or not to abate’ took center stage, with CCS offered up as a technological saviour.

“The fossil fuel industry called in record numbers of lobbyists, but they were met with a united front of science and grassroots power. Carbon capture pipe-dreams were exposed as a massive and dangerous distraction that could ignite the fuse of some of the largest carbon bombs."

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary, Climate Observatory, Brazil:

"This COP28 outcome, strong on signals but weak on substance, means the Brazilian government needs to take the lead through 2024 and lay the foundations for a COP30 deal in Belem that delivers for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities and for nature.

"It can start by cancelling its promise to join OPEC, the group that tried and failed to wreck this summit."

(Reporting by Laurie Goering; editing by Megan Rowling.)