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New Energy World
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COP28: agreement to transition away from fossil fuels is a milestone but may prove complicated
20/12/2023
8 min read
COP28 concluded last week in Dubai, UAE with 198 countries agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels. Some consider this alone an important achievement, whilst others see the lack of urgency in accelerating the energy transition as disastrous. Nick Cottam reports.
Thousands of people using the UK road network over the festive season will note that the internal combustion engine is still working overtime. Traffic jams aplenty but only a minority of the vehicles in them are powered by electricity. The same fossil fuel reliance will apply to all that heating and cooking over the holiday season. Of the 26.5 million homes in the UK, some 85% are still using gas – old world energy in a country and on a planet which has now pledged to transition away from fossil fuels.
The horse-trading finale to the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28) brought a collective sigh of relief from many of those present but a sceptical moan from large swathes of a wider audience who expected much more. ‘COP is meant to be the vehicle for solutions, but all it seems to do is recognise problems that the rest of the world identified years ago. It’s obvious to most people that limiting global warming meant reduced fossil fuel use, but only now do our leaders say this,’ commented Mike O’Sullivan, Lecturer at the University of Exeter.
The fact that a solid commitment on fossil fuels found its way into the final COP28 agreement was praised as an achievement in itself by many and a cause for celebration by some. ‘It’s a brilliant turnaround from the text two days ago and the negotiators have pulled a rabbit out of the hat,’ was the immediate response of Piers Forster, Interim Chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee. ‘This gives all 198 countries the mandate to go home and deliver strong domestic policies to affect the transformative change.’