After days of contentious negotiations in Dubai at the United Nations’ 28th annual climate summit, an agreement was reached on December 13 to “transition away” from fossil fuels and accelerate climate action over the next decade. Although hailed as a historic moment of global solidarity, the final agreement, signed by nearly 200 nations, lacked explicit language mandating the phasing out of fossil fuel energy, leading to frustration among nations, climate scientists, and activists.
The agreement, considered the world’s first “global stocktake” since the 2015 Paris Agreement, acknowledges that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43 percent by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The document calls on nations to expedite climate actions before 2030 to achieve global net zero by 2050, emphasizing the need for increased renewable energy generation, a reduction in coal power, and the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.
While some see the agreement as a step forward, climate scientists, gathered at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco, expressed frustration and disappointment. Some criticized the language as insufficient, lacking a specific commitment to phase out fossil fuels on a detailed timeline. There are concerns that the pace of future climate action may still be insufficient, driven primarily by the arrival of severe impacts.
Notably, the eighth anniversary of the Paris Agreement’s signing was marked by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which highlighted a “lost” 19 years due to delayed action on fossil fuel emissions. Projections now suggest that the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold may be reached by 2034, 11 years earlier than initially estimated in 2015.
Climate scientists emphasize the urgency of making dramatic and immediate reductions in carbon emissions to address the shrinking window of opportunity and prevent irreversible consequences.
