The prospect of a deal to end fossil fuels faded on Monday in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, when organizers of the U.N. climate summit released a draft proposal that merely suggested reducing them instead.
That outcome falls far short of the demands that environmental groups, the U.S., EU and vulnerable island nations had set before the summit in Dubai, with some activists saying the talks would be deemed a failure if they did not call for phasing out the production of coal, oil and natural gas.
But summit president Sultan al-Jaber urged the nearly 200 governments assembled to be flexible and make a deal. The “world is watching” after almost two weeks of discussion, said al-Jaber, who is also the CEO of the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned oil company.
Meanwhile, as ministers and their staff gathered in the plenary at the Expo City campus on the outskirts of Dubai, protesters stood outside chanting: “This text is bullshit.”
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore unloaded on the proposal, saying in a statement that “COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure.”
“The world desperately needs to phase out fossil........