The UN climate body published on Monday the latest draft of the agreement that it hopes to reach at the UN climate change conference “COP 28” in Dubai, in what the presidency of the conference considered a “big step forward”.
The new draft, presented by the UAE presidency of the conference a day before the scheduled end of its activities, on Tuesday, calls for “reducing the consumption and production of fossil fuels” responsible for the bulk of polluting emissions causing global warming.
In particular, the text calls for “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels within a fair and regulated framework in an equitable manner to achieve net zero by 2050, earlier or towards it based on what science recommends”.
But the draft did not use the word “disposal” of oil, gas or coal, which are sources of greenhouse gases, and represented a red line for many parties involved in the Dubai negotiations.
This is the only article on the future of the use of fossil fuels, contained in the draft of the final agreement, among 8 measures that countries can choose from with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The draft proposed various options, but made no reference to the “phasing out” of the use of all fossil fuels mentioned in an earlier draft.
