Climate talks end on a first-ever call for the world to move away from fossil fuels

Updated December 13, 2023 at 9:23 AM ET

DUBAI - In the final weeks of the hottest year in recorded history, the international body responsible for limiting global warming and its disastrous effects called on countries to transition away from the chief cause of climate change – fossil fuels – for the first time.

"It's embarrassing that it took 28 years but now we're finally there. Now it finally seems like the world has acknowledged that we need to move away from fossil [fuels]," said Dan Jørgensen, Denmark's climate minister.

The agreement at the United Nations climate conference, known as COP28, comes after more than two weeks of contentious negotiations.

But not all of the nearly 200 countries present – particularly those at the greatest risk from the rapidly warming world – were satisfied with the decision, which ended more than 24 hours after the summit's scheduled close. Amidst the congratulations and speeches, some countries expressed their outrage at not being allowed to comment on a final text they felt did not go far enough to address the threats from global warming, especially to developing nations.

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which represents countries that have contributed little to global climate change but are already being overrun by sea-level rise, said it saw a "litany of loopholes," in the final text.

Members of the alliance and climate activists at COP28 had called for a clear path towards phasing out fossil fuels, which are responsible for 75% of global warming.

"It is not enough for us to reference the science and then make agreements that ignore what the science is telling us we need to do," Anne Rasmussen of Samoa told world leaders as the meeting ended. Speaking on behalf of the AOSIS coalition, she pointed out that the final deal does not require countries to stop using fossil fuels by any particular date. "This is not an approach that we should be asked to defend," she said.

The science on climate change is clear. To limit the worst effects of planetary warming – runaway sea level rise, mass extinction of plants and animals, and damaging and deadly wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves and floods – the world needs to reduce its emissions of climate-warming fossil fuels rapidly and steeply.

In 2015, world leaders agreed to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to pre-industrial times. Scientists say that warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius would put global food systems at risk, spell the end of most of the world's coral reefs and potentially trigger climate tipping points like the melting of permafrost, which could accelerate warming regardless of other human actions.

The world has already warmed roughly 1.2 degrees Celsius, said Jim Skea, chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in an interview at COP28.

Keeping 1.5 alive, the oft-quoted goal of these climate summits is "still possible – just," Skea said. But, he added, "We continue to emit. So it's becoming harder and harder to imagine that we're going to limit warming at 1.5 degrees and at some point, if we carry on as we are, we'll run out of rope."

One of the biggest breakthroughs of COP28 is that, for the first time, millions of dollars will be directed to developing countries that are already suffering damage from climate change.

For years, developing countries have argued they're paying for devastating impacts that richer nations are largely responsible for. Wealthier countries like the U.S. and those in Europe have historically contributed the biggest share of emissions from fossil fuel use that are causing the planet to heat up. As weather extremes get worse and sea levels rise, developing countries are shouldering the cost of what's known as "loss and damage."

At climate talks a year ago, nations agreed to establish a new loss and damage fund. Now, more than $700 million has been announced for it, most from European countries and $100 million coming from the United Arab Emirates. [Copyright 2023 NPR]