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COP28 deal and coal phaseout
Nearly 200 countries reached an agreement at COP28 in Dubai to phase out burning coal, oil, and gas, but the BBC said some developing countries worried about the weakness of the agreement and its lack of detail.
“The heated COP28 negotiations culminate in an agreement that worries developing countries”
The BBC reported that the 28th United Nations Conference of the Parties had one main objective: to put the world back on track to keep global warming below 1.5°C, and that tensions flared when an initial draft text sparked outrage and dismay.
The BBC said the negotiations continued until the eleventh hour and ultimately produced a watered-down agreement on the transition away from fossil fuels, with OPEC member countries among those most opposed to ending fossil fuels.
The BBC added that oil-producing countries such as the United Arab Emirates pressed for greater emphasis on carbon capture technologies, while countries like Bolivia and Samoa were concerned the agreement does not also require developed countries to take the lead in the transition away from fossil fuels.
The BBC quoted Nafkote Dabi, head of climate policy at Oxfam International, calling the outcome "crudely inadequate" and saying COP28 was "doubly disappointing" because it did not put money on the table to help developing countries transition to renewable energy.
Loss and Damage Fund delays
At London Climate Action Week, Nigerian environment minister Balarabe Abbas Lawal said that whenever he goes to UN climate summits "we talk about loss and damage funds, and all these years nothing has been translated into action".
Climate Home News reported that Lawal added the fund currently "looks like a mirage" and said "a number of our governments are beginning to believe that COPs are just talk shops".
The same article said the idea of addressing the loss and damage caused by climate change was first discussed at COP13 in 2007, and that a fund was agreed at COP27 in 2022 and officially set up the next year.
Climate Home News reported that Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a banker from Senegal, was appointed CEO in 2024 and told the outlet the fund is "moving according to plan".
The article said a call for funding requests launched at COP30 closed on June 15, and that projects including those to strengthen responses to floods in Bangladesh and Lagos and improve water infrastructure in Jamaica bid for a combined $250 million.
African negotiators weigh the compromise
In coverage of COP28’s outcome, tv5monde described African negotiators as torn between satisfaction and disappointment, quoting Chad’s chief negotiator Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim as summarizing the sentiment after leaving the last COP28 meeting on December 13 in Dubai.
“The UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, on the left, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, and Hana Al-Hashimi, the UAE’s chief negotiator at COP28, pose at the end of COP28 in Dubai on Wednesday, December 13, 2023”
tv5monde said the agreement adopted by consensus at a COP chaired by Sultan Al-Jaber calls for a "transition" away from fossil fuels "in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050," and also calls for tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the pace of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.
The outlet quoted Sena Alouka, the Togolese negotiator in Dubai and director of the NGO Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement, saying, "I find it very difficult to be satisfied with a compromise agreement."
tv5monde also quoted Alouka saying, "There cannot be an energy transition if it is not fair, just, and especially if it is not funded," and added that in the Dubai consensus there is no financing pledge to help countries not responsible for global warming implement the energy transition.
The article said African negotiators welcomed some elements, including the announcements on the Loss and Damage Fund and the UAE’s promise to give $100 million, while Benin’s Maimouna Adamou said, "We have no clarity on what was adopted" and that ending the COP by telling negotiators they will not exit fossil fuels but move toward a transition is like pretending to make decisions.
