DUBAI
\nNegotiators at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai remained far apart on the future role of fossil fuels on Sunday as talks at the Dubai summit entered their final stage.
\nThe question of whether the world should, for the first time ever, agree on an eventual end to the oil age has been central to the international conference where nearly 200 countries are trying to hash out a solution to climate change.
\nA coalition of more than 80 countries including the United States, the European Union and small island nations were pushing for a deal that includes language to \u201cphase out\u201d oil, gas and coal but were coming up against tough opposition led by the oil producer group OPEC and its allies.
\nOPEC issued a letter to its members and backers on Dec. 6 asking them to oppose any language targeting fossil fuels in a COP28 deal, and negotiators told Reuters that those delegations appeared to be heeding the call.
\n\u201cI think there are still quite entrenched positions,\u201d said Adam Guibourg\u00e9-Czetwerty\u0144ski, Poland\u2019s Deputy Minister for Climate, who is heading the country\u2019s COP28 delegation.
\n\u201cWe are nearing the end, in terms of the time allocated for negotiations. But we are not quite there on the final outcome.\u201d
\nOPEC\u2019s biggest producer and de facto leader Saudi Arabia, along with Russia and others, have argued that the focus of the COP28 should be on reducing emissions, not on targeting the fuel sources that cause them.
\nChina\u2019s top climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said on Saturday that a COP28 deal can only be considered a success if it includes an agreement on fossil fuels \u2013 though he did not say whether Beijing would back a \u201cphase out\u201d deal.
\nHe said COP28 was the hardest climate summit of his career.
\nThe latest version of the negotiating text, released on Friday, shows countries were still considering a range of options – from agreeing to a \u201cphase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science\u201d, to phasing out \u201cunabated fossil fuels\u201d, to including no mention at all.
\nAbating fossil fuels typically means reducing their climate impact by either capturing and storing their carbon dioxide emissions, or using other offsets.
\nCarbon capture is expensive and has yet to be proven at scale.
\nThree sources told Reuters that the COP28 presidency did not intend to release another draft until Monday, something that would leave negotiators just one full day to resolve differences ahead of the conference\u2019s scheduled end on Tuesday before noon.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s getting close to the end point, so that new text really has to find areas of convergence that\u2019s much beyond where we are right now,\u201d said Rachel Cleetus, a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
\nThe conference has yielded a slew of commitments from countries to hit targets like tripling renewable energy and nuclear power deployments, slash coal use, and curb emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane.
\nThe International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Sunday that these pledges – if honored – would lower global-energy related greenhouse gas emissions by 4 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030.
\nWhile the figure is substantial, it represents only about a third of the emissions gap that needs to be closed in the next six years to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the IEA said.
\nUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking at the Doha Forum, urged leaders at the COP28 climate conference to agree on deep cuts to emissions and stop global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
\nGuterres said that despite pledges, emissions are at a record high and fossil fuels are the major cause.
\n\u201cI urge leaders at COP28 in Dubai to agree on deep cuts to emissions, in line with the 1.5-degree limit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Negotiators at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai remained far apart on the future role of fossil fuels on Sunday as talks at the Dubai summit entered their final stage. The question of whether the world should, for the first time ever, agree on an eventual end to the oil age has been central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-373611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n