It focuses on the node of fossil fuels – the main causes of climate change and extreme weather phenomena according to science – the clash at Cop28. The draft agreement presented by the president of the Conference, Sultan Al Jaberno longer talks about exit (phaseout) from coal, oil and gas as in a previous version, but only about reduction (phasedown).
The text urges the Parties to action on seven points: – gradual reduction of unabated coal and limitations in permits for new electricity generation from unabated coal (processed in plants that do not have carbon capture-storage or capture-use systems) – accelerate global efforts towards energy systems to net zero emissions, using zero and low carbon fuels well before or around mid-century; – accelerate zero and low greenhouse gas emission technologies, including but not limited to renewable energy, nuclear, abatement and removal technologies, including carbon capture, utilization and storage, and the production of low-carbon hydrogen, so as to enhance efforts towards replacing unabated fossil fuels in energy systems; – reduce both the consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a fair, orderly and equitable way so as to reach net zero by, before or around 2050, in line with science; – accelerate and substantially reduce non-CO2 emissions, including, in particular, methane emissions globally by 2030; – accelerate the reduction of emissions from road transport through a range of pathways, including infrastructure development and the rapid deployment of zero- and low-emission vehicles; – eliminate as soon as possible subsidies for inefficient fossil fuels that encourage waste and do not address energy poverty or just transitions.
Pichetto Fratin: “More can and must be done”
«More can and must be done. We are working with European partners to improve the proposal of the Emirati presidency. Further effort is needed for a more ambitious text.” This is what the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto, declared at the end of the coordination meeting of the European Union ministers, following the dissemination of the draft document released in Dubai by the COP28 presidency.