Forbes Piece: The Devil Is Once Again In The Details At COP28

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 01: Heads of states, including Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, King Charles III, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Secratary General Antonio Guterres, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, prepare to pose for a family photo during day one of the high-level segment of the UNFCCC COP28 Climate Conference at Expo City Dubai on December 01, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

With final adjournment looming in just a few days, COP28 conferees are working to agree to a final closing statement that will serve as the public record for whatever progress towards cutting global emissions have been made. The central remaining question at hand is what to say or not to say about a goal of phasing out the use of fossil fuels over the coming decades. The COP rules requiring unanimous consensus render this process as difficult as possible.

Towards this end, COP28 leaders circulated a draft containing a range of five options for consideration, including:

• A phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science

• Phasing out of fossil fuels in line with best available science, the IPCC's 1.5 pathways and the principles and provisions of the Paris Agreement

• A phase-out of unabated fossil fuels recognizing the need for a peak in their consumption in this decade and underlining the importance for the energy sector to be predominantly free of fossil fuels well ahead of 2050

• Phasing out unabated fossil fuels and to rapidly reducing their use so as to achieve net-zero CO2 in energy systems by or around mid-century

• No language on the future use of fossil fuels.

One of the variables inherent assessing such a wide-ranging list of options comes in the exact meaning of some of the words and phrases contained in them. For example, what exactly is the meaning of “best available science” in the first and second options, and who gets to decide? The same applies to the word “unabated” contained in the 3^rd and 4^th options.