"Unprecedented." "Landmark." "Historic." "Groundbreaking."
These are just some of the poorly chosen words that have marred headlines since the latest round of UN climate talks (COP28) wrapped on Dec. 13, in Dubai. The increasingly climate-concerned public is being assured that world leaders have brokered a deal that will finally set us on course to end the deadly fossil fuel era, a claim that refers to agreement, in principle, to begin "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems." Apparently, we have an executive of one of the world's largest producers of fossil fuels (who presided over the negotiations) as well as Global North governments like the United States most responsible for the climate crisis to thank for this monumental agreement.
In a sense, COP28 did deliver an unprecedented outcome, though not in the way we are led to believe. In a year that is the hottest ever recorded amidst a climate crisis causing more than $4.3 trillion in destruction and placing 3.6 billion lives at risk, even these tremendously high stakes were not enough for the world's richest and most polluting governments to finally start walking the climate action walk instead of placating the public with lip service. It is not the first COP to fail. For proof of this, look no further than the fact that we have needed 28 of them to even acknowledge the role fossil fuels play in fueling the climate crisis.
COP28 was not groundbreaking. It was gaslighting.
Why? As is often the case, the devil is in the details. The words "transitioning away from fossil fuels" are being heralded around the world, but it's essential to consider them in context. After all, they are merely five words in a 23-page document that together comprise the "official outcome" of these UN climate talks. The rest of the 23 pages are riddled with loopholes, contradictions, and dangerous distractions.
For one thing, the "UAE Consensus" includes no actual requirement for world governments to transition away from fossil fuels; they are only "call[ed] on" to take action if/as they see fit. That's like leaving your house unlocked and asking the robber waiting outside to kindly consider not breaking in while you run to the store. There is no timeline for when this transition must happen by, despite science clearly showing it must happen now. No clarity on how it will happen, despite having all the tools at the ready. No funding made available to Global South countries to ensure it happens, despite the great climate debt they are owed.
In addition, the text eradicated the concept of fairness that is core to the Paris Agreement, letting the world's largest historical emitters like the United States, Australia, Canada, and the European Union off the hook for their outsized role in causing the climate crisis.
Instead, the agreement promises to scale up risky, unproven schemes like carbon markets and carbon capture and storage, which are not leading to the promised emissions reductions and are increasingly being proven to be junk. These dangerous distractions are merely cover for the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels
These things—the how, where, when, who?—are the building blocks of a fossil fuel phaseout and a just transition. Without them, there is no way to even begin. It's like heading out to summit Mount Everest without oxygen, a jacket, any experience, or food. You are guaranteed to die. And you knew better.
Who's to blame for this recklessness? For starters, blame the more than2,450 fossil fuel lobbyists that were granted entry into the negotiations and free rein to obstruct climate action. Blame the co-opted system that allows a fossil fuel executive to control the outcome of these talks (or fossil fuel capitals to host the talks year after year).
But most of all, blame the likes of the United States, which consistently blocks progress at these talks to evade its culpability in the climate crisis.
We hear repeatedly that the U.S. is determined "to emphatically accelerate the pace of emissions reductions... to help keep 1.5 alive," but the Biden administration's climate track record is as polluted as its anti-climate predecessor. The U.S. is currently the world's largest producer of oil and gas. The potential emissions reductions of the Inflation Reduction Act pale in comparison to the projected emissions of the oil and gas projects the Biden administration has already approved (while outpacing approvals of drilling on public land by the Trump administration).
The U.S. invests $20 billion of taxpayer money into fossil fuel subsidies annually, while pledging only $17.5 million to help address the loss and damage caused by climate change in the Global South (for comparison, the United States alone endured 24 climate-related disasters this year that caused more than $1 billion each in destruction).
Other Global North governments like the United Kingdom, EU, and Canada align with the United States, offering little beyond empty promises to address their outsized role in climate change.
They also silence and bully Global South governments for demanding the action that can save their homelands. In fact, the so-called "UAE Consensus" was adopted without some countries at risk of disappearing under water even in the room when it was agreed.
The fact that the text mentions a transition from fossil fuels at all is not because of U.S. or EU public support for it in the final hours of the negotiations. It is because people around the world have built power and increasingly demanded a fast, fair, funded and false-solutions free end to fossil fuels. This people power forced the hands of the United States and others to address the role of fossil fuels in climate change, even if performatively.
In 2015, the Paris Agreement was also heralded as a milestone in history. Yet eight years later, fossil fuel emissions are the highest they have ever been and fossil fuel production is on track to exceed Paris targets by 110 percent in 2030. COP28 risks becoming the moment the United States and Global North governments teamed up with Big Polluters to sign the death warrant for millions of people around the world, and especially in the Global South. If we do not urgently course correct by requiring Global North governments to do their fair share of climate action, and end the ability of Big Polluters to write the rules of climate action, it may even become the moment we condemned our own children and grandchildren to the point of no return.
Meena Raman is Head of Programmes at Third World Network
Rachel Rose Jackson is Director of Climate Research and Policy at Corporate Accountability
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
