Climate-vulnerable nations’ hopes that the world was on the cusp of an agreement to rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels at the COP28 climate summit were shattered when a new draft text emerged from negotiations drastically watering down such language.
Australian Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, speaking on behalf of the Umbrella Group of nations, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada, told the COP that the group could not sign the agreement as it stood.
I suspect no significant change will occur until wealthy people from wealthy countries are forced to abandon homes in coastal areas, or some similar worldwide phenomenon occurs.
It all comes down to food. Once we have a collapse of global food supply there will be revolts.
It’ll be far too late to save global society by then.
What good has society provided to the natural world? We have an extinction event named after us. We deserve our fates, and the earth and the rest of the galaxy will be better off without the plague that is humans.
Maybe next time don’t host it in an oil country.
Oops, next time it’s already planned to be hosted in an oil country?
WHAT? Where is the next one planned to take place?
Azerbaijan because Russia vetoed anything else just because they can
I thought Russia vetoed that too?
The short-term impacts of fugitive methane from oil and gas extraction are horrendous and can outweigh the long-term benefits compared to coal. If we can’t even reach an agreement on acknowledging methane as an underreported problem that makes natural gas much worse than it’s claimed to be, how can we expect to make any progress towards a resolution phasing out the use of fossil fuels?
American energy production from fossil fuels has risen 40% over the past two decades with the rise of natural gas and it’s showing no signs of stopping. China, despite owning the majority of the renewables market, has only managed to build up enough renewables manufacturing capacity to outpace energy demand growth this year. India is still stuck with coal for lack of better options. The EU is literally subsidizing tens of cents per kWh to prop up their economy with coal after the loss of cheap Russian gas. The big players are asleep at the wheel.
