The COP28 climate talks have gone into overtime as countries grapple over the wording of a potential agreement on the issue of fossil fuels.
There was a flurry of shuttle diplomacy as the UN-led conference extended past midday on Tuesday after nearly two weeks of speeches, demonstrations and negotiations with many countries criticising a draft text released on Monday for failing to call for the total phase-out of oil, gas and coal.
The COP28 director general for the United Arab Emirates, Majid Al Suwaidi, said the draft text aimed to “spark conversations”.
“The text we released was a starting point for discussions,” Al Suwaidi said at a news conference on Tuesday. “When we released it, we knew opinions were polarised, but what we didn’t know was where each country’s red lines were.”
Monday’s draft prompted negotiations that ran overnight into early Tuesday at the talks in Dubai.
German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said the talks were in a “critical, critical phase”.
“There is a lot of shuttle diplomacy going on,” she said on X, formerly Twitter.
The draft text mentioned eight nonbinding options countries could take in cutting emissions, including reducing “both consumption and production of fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050″.
This is the first time a UN summit has mentioned reducing the use of all fossil fuels.
