A dispute is brewing at United Nations climate talks over whether countries should recommit to last year’s historic pledge to abandon fossil fuels.
European and North American negotiators see reaffirming commitments reached last year, including a boost in efficiency and the deployment of renewable energy, as essential to avoiding setbacks in the global climate fight, people familiar with the matter said.
Saudi Arabia, however, is leading a pushback with a mix of delaying tactics and outright blockade maneuvers, the same people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are not public.
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The disagreement comes at a delicate moment at COP29 in Azerbaijan.
An agreement on fossil fuels was, for the first time, part of the COP28 final declaration, with the United Arab Emirates, hosts of the meeting, successfully getting Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing nations to participate, with a message to “ transition away” from fossil fuels in Dubai.
However, a failure to double down on language agreed last year is seen by developed and climate-vulnerable countries as a retreat.
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A representative for Saudi Arabia declined to immediately comment.
COP29: agenda
A dispute over the agenda at the start of this year’s COP arose from disagreements over whether — and in which forum — emissions reduction commitments made last year should be discussed.
The main goal of this year’s negotiations is to replace an existing $100 billion annual climate finance pledge with one that offers much more to help poorer nations build green economies and resilience to global warming.
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The amount needed was estimated at more than US$1 trillion per year. The US and Europe want more countries to contribute funding, putting pressure on Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf petrostates that are responsible for a large proportion of emissions.
Separately, countries are required to submit ambitious new national climate strategies by February next year to ensure they are on the path set out in the Paris Agreement.
“The historic 2015 agreement states that countries will seek to keep global warming to 2°C, and ideally 1.5°C, before the end of the century.”
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Largest exporter
Saudi Arabia described last year’s agreement to transition away from fossil fuels — the first reference to the main cause of climate change in three decades of UN negotiations — as simply an option to address rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The kingdom is the world’s biggest crude oil exporter and is also building green projects as it pursues a multitrillion-dollar plan to reduce the economy’s dependence on oil.
Including fossil fuel language in a COP agreement took 28 years and “we must ensure that this commitment is not lost in translation and is reinforced in all future decisions,” said Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad.
The COP29 negotiations are about to enter their second week, a period in which climate ministers provide the political impetus to resolve key issues that cannot be resolved at a more technical level. Pages of negotiation text need to be shortened, brackets need to be replaced, and trade-offs will be negotiated in closed-door meetings.
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Azerbaijan’s presidency at COP29 will have to act as a neutral intermediary, despite fossil fuels representing 90% of the country’s exports and its leader Ilham Aliyev calling them a “gift from God”.
The and its commitment to increasing the country’s energy production also hang over any new commitments to abandon oil, gas and coal.
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