Lack of anti-fossil fuel message in climate summit declaration angers hardcore climate activists

Fossil fuel opponents who want to see the world rid of all use of oil, gas and coal are fuming over a draft of the final statement of the U.N. Climate Summit, COP28, in Dubai.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that a “central aspect” of measuring the success of the summit would be a consensus on the phasing out of fossil fuels in a timeline that limits global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The current draft of Global Stocktake, as the final statement is called, contains no language to phase fossil fuels out entirely, infuriating climate absolutionists.

The draft does call for “Rapidly phasing down unabated coal and limitations on permitting new and unabated coal power generation.” The draft text, still being debated at the summit, contains language calling for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, which it says “encourages wasteful consumption and do not address energy poverty or just transitions.”

The current draft also calls for the rapid phasing down of “unabated coal and limitations on permitting new and unabated coal power generation." By “unabated,” it means power plants that do not capture and store carbon dioxide emissions.

As energy expert Robert Bryce points out citing data from the Global Energy Monitor, 204,000 megawatts of new coal-fired capacity is now under construction around the world, and 67% of that is in China. In addition, another 305,000 megawatts of coal-fired capacity has been announced, pre-permitted or permitted across the globe. Bryce explained that the energy source is in high demand, especially in Asia, because it’s cheap, has a stable price, and is not given to the whims of OPEC. Unlike "renewables," coal-fired energy is easy to store.

“The hard reality is that until we can replace large amounts of coal-fired generation with nuclear power (or natural gas), global coal demand will remain robust because the fuel is needed to meet soaring electricity demand,” Bryce continued.

Reason's science correspondent Ronald Bailey wrote that while the document avoids using the words “phase out,” it does contain the word “fossil fuels.” “If that remains in the final text, this will be the first time an official COP decision document actually deployed those words. Previously, such documents have coyly focused on cutting greenhouse gas emissions without mentioning from whence those pesky emissions might come,” Bailey said.

The talks at COP28 are scheduled to end Tuesday, but the summit rarely ends at the scheduled time. Even before the draft text was released, some summit leaders were speaking out against the notion of phasing out fossil fuels. COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the minister of industry and advanced technology of the United Arab Emirates, called the notion “alarmist” and suggested it would send “the world back to caves.” Similarly, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said no nation believed in it and challenged any that do to prove it can be done.

As the prospect of a consensus at COP28 for complete phase out of fossil fuels dims, fossil fuel opponents are raising alarms. “COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure. The world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared,” former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on X Monday.

Reuters reported that a child protester from India ran on to the stage holding a sign that read “End fossil fuel. Save our planet and our future.”

U.S. Special Envoy John Kerry called the phase out of fossil fuels “a war for survival.” Kerry himself has been accused of hypocrisy, with newspapers highlighting that he "jets around the globe, giving himself a dispensation because he’s on a climate-saving mission."

Whether or not these warnings will carry enough influence over those at the summit, including representatives from oil-producing countries, remains to be seen. Based on the draft text, it’s clear that there was enough opposition to a complete phase out to keep two words out of the document, but the draft does outline a number of provisions that seek to reduce the use of fossil fuels over the coming decades.