Draft Cop27 agreement fails to call for ‘phase-down’ of all fossil fuels

(The Guardian, 17 Nov 2022) Document will provide basis for negotiations over coming days and is likely to be significantly reworked.

The UN climate agency has published a first draft on Thursday of what could be the overarching agreement from the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt However, much of the text is likely to be reworked in the coming days.

The reaction from some NGOs has been swift and frustrated, with one Greenpeace representative saying it paved the way for “climate hell”.

The document, labelled a “non-paper”, indicating it is still far from the final version, repeats the goal from last year’s Glasgow climate pact to “to accelerate measures towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and phase out and rationalise inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.

Last year was the first time a decision agreed by all parties even mentioned fossil fuels and coal as part of the climate.

But it does not call for a phase-down of all fossil fuels, as India and the EU had requested. The text does not include details for launching a fund for loss and damage, a key demand from the most climate vulnerable countries such as island nations. Rather, it “welcomes” the fact that parties have agreed for the first time to include “matters related to funding arrangements responding to loss and damage” on the summit agenda.

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The Guardian, 17 Nov 2022: Draft Cop27 agreement fails to call for ‘phase-down’ of all fossil fuels