We can’t leave COP27 without a decision text committing nations to equitably phasing out all oil, gas, and coal–the perpetrators of the climate emergency. Luckily, the race is on to name and shame fossil fuels in the final decision text.
First out the gate was the EU and AILAC which went beyond the Glasgow decision text to call for the phase out of all fossil fuels–not just coal, but also oil and gas. The UK also called for transitioning away from fossil fuels.
Tuvalu made a similar clarion call for the decision text to explicitly include an unqualified phase out of all fossil fuels. No ifs, buts, or ands. These are the sole calls for text that aligns with the 1.5°C goal and firmly rejects false solutions like carbon capture which prolong the continued use of fossil fuels.
In a surprising set of announcements, India called for phasing down unabated fossil fuels. The US made a breakthrough move of supporting India’s call to phase down all unabated oil, gas, and coal. Norway followed suit. This represents the first time in COP history that major countries have recognized the need to end the world’s fossil fuel dependence.
But we need these calls to be firmly announced in black and white in the final decision text. Shamefully, the draft decision text elements contain no reference to oil and gas and woefully backslides on even Glasgow’s baby step commitments on transitioning off dirty energy. The text retains weasel language that commits to phasing out unabated coal and, to add insult to injury, also allows for “rationalized” “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies to persist.
We cannot backslide on Glasgow’s commitments. We need a decision text that recognizes all fossil fuels are the problem; anything less is climate denial. All eyes are on the Egyptian presidency to stop blocking this wave of nations that want to commit to phasing down the culprit of the climate emergency.
And this emerging bloc also can’t stop at this minimal ambition. It is unacceptable to limit a phaseout to ‘unabated’ fossil fuels, language that opens a polluters’ Pandora’s box of false solutions such as large scale offset action to keep fossils in the mix, carbon capture or fossil hydrogen – all of which only prolong devastating damage. We need words that reflect the reality that our fossil fuel addiction condemns us to an unlivable planet and an unjust world.