Dubai Climate Conference reaches agreement on phasing out fossil fuels

UN Climate Conference COP28 has ended after having gone into overtime due to challenging negotiations. For the final text a historical agreement was reached concerning fossil fuels, but the chances to meet the 1.5 degree target seem quite fragile. The countries and especially the large economies should take urgent action to meet the target.

The Climate Conference COP28 in the United Arab Emirates started with great expectations. The first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement that culminated at the Conference assessed the actions that will be needed to limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees.

The EU and other countries that advocate a high climate ambition sought a historical decision to phase out fossil fuels. There was a heated debate over the text concerning fossil fuels at the very end of the Conference. Now the final texts states that the countries should transition away from fossil fuels. The actions should be speeded up during the present, critical decade. Global emissions should be reduced by 43% by 2030, as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC.

“The text concerning fossil fuels is the strongest formulation that could be reached at this Conference. I see this outcome as an important step towards a decarbonised world. Primarily, this is a powerful message to companies that they should target money flows to the production of clean energy,” says Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen.

The countries agreed on tripling the production of renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. According to the decision, all forms of clean energy will be taken into account as part of the energy transition. 

“Nuclear power must be part of the solution if we truly wish to get rid of fossil fuels during our time. Together with a significant group of countries, we gave a declaration on the need to multiply the production of nuclear power in order to eliminate fossil fuels. Fortunately, this is now understood much better than 10 years ago,” Mykkänen says.

Even if Finland and the EU aimed for more ambitious texts regarding the phase-out of fossil fuels, the final text is still much better than the first proposal of the Presidency.

“The EU succeed in creating a powerful collaborative effort together with other countries that pursue an ambitious climate policy. In the end, most countries were in favour of quite strong texts concerning the phase-out of fossil fuels. Globally, there is strong support for fast and effective climate actions. What is also important is that this decision was made in the United Arab Emirates, which is a major oil producer,” says Finland's Chief Negotiator Marjo Nummelin.

The Conference also agreed on a more detailed definition of the global goal on adaptation. In the coming years these definitions will be used to follow the progress towards the goal. 
On the first day of the Conference an agreement was reached on the Climate Loss and Damage Fund. So far more than USD 700 million has been collected to the Fund.

The next UN Climate Conference, COP29, will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. One of the key themes will be climate finance as the meeting should decide on a new quantitative climate finance target that will apply to all parties.

Inquiries:

Marjo Nummelin
Chief Negotiator for Climate Change
tel. +358 295 250 227
[email protected]

Outi Honkatukia
Head of the Climate Unit
tel. +358 50 341 1758
[email protected]