2023-12-13 14:30:26
MONDE – The draft agreement proposed Monday December 11, 2023 by the Emirati Sultan Al Jaber, president of the 28th UN conference on climate change (COP 28) which is taking place in Dubai, is far from convincing all the participants at the summit . The text does not mention any “exit from fossil fuels” and only mentions “the reduction of their consumption and production”. A compromise which is not one for many countries, including the United States, the States of the European Union and island countries, which consider this outcome of the negotiations “unacceptable”. COP 28, which was to close on Tuesday December 12 at 11 a.m., continued until Wednesday morning the 13th, to reach an agreement on a new version evoking a “transition” away from fossil fuels.
In the eyes of the delegations present in Dubai to negotiate a climate agreement, the accounts are not good. The draft agreement proposed by the United Arab Emirates was made public on Monday December 11, that is to say the day before the official closing of COP 28. Certainly, the document calls for the “reduction of consumption and of the production of fossil fuels in a fair, orderly and equitable manner, so as to achieve carbon neutrality by, before, or around 2050, as recommended by science”.
The draft agreement also mentions coal, calling for “rapidly reducing [cette ressource] without carbon capture” and the establishment of “limits on permits granted for new coal-fired power stations”.
“Disastrous”, “disappointing”, “insufficient”… the criticisms are pouring out
But the part dedicated to fossil fuels causes turmoil between oil exporting countries, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in the lead, and 130 countries in favor of “an exit” from these hydrocarbons, such as the European Union, from the countries of the South America such as Brazil and island states. In addition, the version proposed by Sultan Al Jaber grants countries broad leeway to choose the way in which they intend to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, without obligation. Also included are a certain number of wishes from the camp of oil producing or exporting countries, such as the mention of technologies, considered “in their infancy”, of carbon capture and storage, required to continue to extract this hydrocarbon.
The text provoked an outcry from many delegations and even indignation among some. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French minister, estimated that this version is “insufficient. “There are elements that are not acceptable as they stand,” she added. “That we are using such weak and even disastrous language is a profound disappointment,” deplores, for his part, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.
Spanish Minister Teresa Ribera shares this opinion. The United States, one of the world’s main polluters along with China, called for “strongly strengthening” the draft agreement. Their emissary, John Kerry, former Secretary of State under Barack Obama, spoke of a “masquerade”. “Many of you have called on the world to largely move away from fossil fuels and this requires a decisive reduction this decade (…) I think that most of you refuse to participate in a charade”.
OPEC member countries are banging their fists on the table
For his part, Sultan Al Jaber believes that progress has been made but recognizes that “much still remains to be done”. “We still need to resolve many differences without wasting time”, he added. In the absence of a consensus, negotiations continued into the evening of Tuesday, December 12. “The COP28 presidency will continue to unite parties to achieve the most ambitious outcome possible,” the committee announced earlier in the day.
A new draft agreement was therefore awaited by the various delegations, who hoped to convince the OPEC Member States, including Saudi Arabia and the host of COP 28, formally opposed to an “exit from fossil fuels”. These two Gulf powers agreed in November not to mention this compromise, preferring to discuss a transition towards renewable energies.
Before the draft agreement was published, many ministers from oil-producing countries reaffirmed their position. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Saad al-Barrak denounced an “aggressive attack” on the part of the West. Hayan Abdel-Ghani, his Iraqi counterpart, was sharper, saying that “Fossil fuels will remain the main source of energy in the world”.
A new text was expected by the delegations and the UN for Tuesday evening. Delegations from several countries visited the offices of the Emirati president of the conference. Everything hinged on one word: “Exit”. The new version, unveiled overnight by the presidency of COP28 and signed shortly after 8 a.m. on Wednesday December 13, ultimately calls for a “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems”.
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