LEAD 2-Agreement at COP28 on a gradual exit from fossil fuels

(Updated throughout)

by Valerie Volcovici, Gloria Dickie and William James

DUBAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) –

Countries participating in the global climate conference (COP28) reached an agreement on Wednesday which, for the first time in the history of these conferences, calls on countries to gradually abandon fossil fuels in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. climate change.

The agreement reached in Dubai after two weeks of fierce negotiations was intended to send a strong signal to investors and political decision-makers about the desire to break away from fossil fuels, which are by far the main source of greenhouse gases. responsible for global warming.

The president of COP28, Emirati official Sultan Al Jaber, welcomed a “historic” agreement but warned that it would only make sense if it was translated into action.

“We are what we do, not what we say,” he told the plenary. “We must take the necessary steps to transform this agreement into concrete actions.”

Several countries welcomed the fact that fossil fuels finally appeared in the final text of a COP, which had never happened until now.

“This is the first time that the world has united around such a clear text on the need to move away from fossil fuels,” said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

More than 100 countries have pushed for the COP28 agreement to explicitly mention “phasing out” the use of oil, gas and coal, but have faced strong opposition from OPEC, the cartel of oil producers led by Saudi Arabia, which promotes the idea that the world can significantly reduce carbon emissions without giving up certain fuels.

“DEFINING THE COMMON GOOD”

After the publication on Monday of a draft final text which no longer mentioned the gradual exit from fossil fuels, negotiations continued until Wednesday morning, pushing back the end of the COP by 24 hours.

“The COP28 agreement which has just been adopted is a victory for multilateralism and climate diplomacy,” rejoiced the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, present in Dubai.

“It is a text which is totally aligned with French energy policy,” said the minister, also calling for “implementing this plan”. President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the X platform of an “important step”.

The United States climate envoy, John Kerry, also hailed a rare success of multilateralism, the 200 participating countries having, according to him, agreed to “define the common good” despite their contradictory interests.

OPEC members who resisted any mention of fossil fuels in the agreement together have nearly 80% of the world’s known oil reserves and provide a third of global production. Their governments depend largely on this income and do not look favorably on the announced end of this model.

Small island states, whose very existence is threatened by climate change, were among the strongest proponents of phasing out fossil fuels and enjoyed the support of huge oil and gas producers such as the -United States, Canada and Norway, as well as the European Union and many other governments.

TEXT TOO UNAMBITIOUS

Before the plenary assembly, a representative of the island states considered the final text too unambitious.

“The necessary course correction has not been achieved. We have made progress compared to the status quo, when what we really need is radical change,” she lamented, without rejecting the agreement that had just been concluded.

The Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, Dan Jorgensen, was more philosophical, emphasizing that it was unexpected to reach an agreement on the gradual exit of oil and gas in the heart of the world’s leading producing region.

The president of COP28, Sultan Al Jaber, is also the head of the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates, which had raised serious doubts about his ability to forge a compromise before the opening of the conference.

The agreement calls for phasing out fuels “in a fair, orderly and equitable manner… in order to achieve (the goal of) net zero emissions by 2050, in line with science”, which leaves a certain latitude to States.

The text also calls for tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030, accelerating efforts to reduce coal use and accelerating the development of technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up industries difficult to decarbonize.

The challenge now is for this agreement to be translated into national investment policies and priorities.

However, it is often at this level that the shoe has broken since the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

In the United States, the world’s leading producer of oil and gas and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the ambitions of administrations in favor of the energy transition have, for example, systematically encountered resistance from Congress, even if President Joe Biden succeeded in passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which gives pride of place to green energies, while former President Donald Trump had simply withdrawn his country from the agreement, which he could do again if he is re-elected next year.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Kate Abnett, Jake Spring, Gloria Dickie, Elizabeth Piper, David Stanway; French version Zhifan Liu and Tangi Salaün, with contributions from Elizabeth Pineau, editing by Kate Entringer)