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The Climate Treadmill Speeds Up At COP28, But Critics Say It’s Still Not Going Anywhere

Inside Climate News · By Bob Berwyn · last updated
The Dubai climate summit showed how fossil fuel companies and their allied politicians captured the UN process. Decades of obstruction have gridlocked efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from oil, gas and coal.

By Bob Berwyn

Esa Sharon Mona Ainuu, Niue minister of natural resources and environment, was in tears as she met the press on Dec. 11, near the end of COP28 in Dubai. After 12 days of meetings, any references to a fossil fuel phase-out had suddenly been stripped out of the text by Sultan al-Jaber, the presiding officer at climate talks, who just a few weeks earlier said there is “no science” showing a fossil fuel phase-out is needed to stop global warming.

Related Knowledge Center: Climate diplomacy: COP 27

State of Play

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) produced a groundbreaking agreement to create a “loss and damage” fund to help developing nations cope with the impact of climate change.

But the conference, held from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, fell short of a hoped-for agreement to speed reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

More informationabout Climate diplomacy: COP 27