Historic deal struck on fossil fuels at COP28

UAE Consensus hailed as 198 nations unanimously agree to make transition

Despite going a day over its official end time of midday on Tuesday, the United Nations climate summit ended with a "Global Stocktake "agreement unanimously approved by 198 nations, marking a historic moment.

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, concluded on Wednesday in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, with the final text of the climate deal calling for "transitioning away from fossil fuels".

It marked the first time that firm action on fossil fuels has been agreed at a COP summit.

COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called the deal the "UAE Consensus" and urged all countries to proceed with the same spirit of collaboration witnessed recently.

"Many said this could not be done, but when I spoke to you at the very start of this COP, I promised a different sort of COP … that brought everyone together, private and public sectors, civil society, NGOs, and faith leaders, and indigenous peoples," he said.

Al Jaber, who is also the UAE Minister of industry and advanced technology, added that "everyone came together from day one, everyone united, everyone acted — and everyone delivered".

The deal stipulates a slew of measures to cope with climate change regarding adaptation, finance, flexibility, and fossil fuels.

"The UAE Consensus is delivering a paradigm shift that has the potential to redefine our economies," wrote the official account of COP28 UAE on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, said: "Whilst we didn't turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end."

He said these climate conferences are certainly a consensus-based process, and "it's not easy at all".

"The Global Stocktake showed us clearly that progress is not fast enough, but undeniably it is gathering pace," Stiell added.

General direction

COP28 has provided a general direction for the next phase of global climate action, Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation to COP28 and China's vice-minister for Ecology and Environment, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

He said the first-ever global stocktake of the Paris Agreement during COP28 has further consolidated the general global trend toward a green and low-carbon future.

"The principles and targets of the Convention and its Paris Agreement, and Nationally Determined Contributions, are the cornerstones of the global climate process," Zhao noted.

Unfortunately, in the current global climate process, such as mitigation, adaptation and finance, many concerns of developing countries have not been fully paid attention to and resolved, and developed countries have a historical responsibility for climate change, he added.

COP28 responded to the first-ever Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement. As a mechanism created at COP21 in Paris in 2015, the Global Stocktake requires that countries assess their climate measures every five years. The outcome provides input for new nationally determined contributions of parties.

"I am in awe of the spirit of cooperation that has brought everybody together," said US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry.

He noted that the United States, together with China, will update their long-term strategies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, while encouraging other nations to do so.

The UN climate talks were extended into Wednesday as parties to the climate conference failed to reach a consensus, with a deadlock over the previous draft text of a final agreement.

"We are facing the most demanding COP agenda of all time," COP28 Director-General Majid Al Suwaidi told the media on Tuesday.

All COPs are challenging, he said, adding that in this COP "we are trying to do something that has never been done before … something historic" by "including language on fossil fuels in the text".