Draft text at COP28 shows negotiators considering fossil fuel 'phase out'

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DUBAI — A second draft of what could be the final agreement from the COP28 UN climate summit shows negotiators are considering calling for an "orderly and just" phase out of fossil fuels.

The draft text was published by the UN climate body and shows the possible outcomes for talks at the COP28 summit in Dubai. The negotiations are part of the "global stocktake" process, in which nearly 200 nations are trying to agree on plans to curb rising global temperatures.

The first option in the draft text was listed as "an orderly and just phase out of fossil fuels". The second called for "accelerating efforts towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels".

The third option would be no mention of a fossil fuel phase out.

Negotiators have yet to embark on trying to find a common vision for the future of fossil fuels. They have used the first phase of talks to settle on the options and lay the ground for what could be the trickiest issue on which to find agreement.

The draft text also included an option for countries to agree to a "rapid phase out of unabated coal power this decade" and an immediate halt to building new CO2-emitting coal power plants.

However, a second option for the same paragraph would not mention phasing out coal at all.

An "unabated" power plant is one that does not capture the plant's CO2 emissions before they hit the atmosphere. The vast majority of the world's power plants are unabated.

ALSO READ: Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to hit record high in 2023

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