A draft of the Global Stocktake document being negotiated at the UN’s 28th annual climate-change talks (CoP28) includes a clause committing all signatories to “an orderly and just phase-out of fossil fuels”. This is significant as all previous CoPs had focused on a phase-out of only coal, thanks to the rich nations refusing to commit to weaning the globe away from other fossil fuels. At the same time, host UAE is a petro-state and CoP28 president Sultan Ahmed al Jaber, the country’s industry and advanced technology minister, is also the CEO of one of its largest oil companies. So, the language of the final stocktake document can very likely bear the imprint of the fossil fuel lobby.
