Nations agree to 'transition away' from fossil fuels at COP28
A UN climate summit reached a landmark deal naming fossil fuels as the cause of the crisis for the first time.
Nearly 200 nations agreed at a United Nations climate summit in Dubai this December to begin "transitioning away" from fossil fuels, a landmark deal that for the first time in three decades of climate negotiations explicitly named the burning of coal, oil and gas as the root of the crisis.
The agreement, reached at the COP28 conference after tense negotiations that ran past their deadline, called on countries to move away from fossil fuels in their energy systems in a just and orderly fashion, and to triple renewable energy capacity and double the pace of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
Supporters hailed the explicit reference to fossil fuels as historic, arguing it sent an unmistakable signal that the era of coal, oil and gas must eventually end. The outcome had been hard-won, with oil-producing nations resisting stronger language calling for a "phase-out".
Critics, including many climate-vulnerable island states and campaigners, warned that the deal contained loopholes and lacked the firm commitments and finance needed to drive change at the required speed, and that "transitioning away" fell short of the clear phase-out the science demanded.
Held in a major petrostate and presided over by an oil executive, the summit was closely scrutinised. Whatever its shortcomings, the agreement marked a symbolic turning point, placing the future of fossil fuels squarely at the centre of global climate diplomacy, with the hard work of turning words into action still ahead.