In the face of mounting climate chaos, incremental steps and loophole language are a leap backward.
Experts are available to comment in Dubai as well as in the United States
DUBAI, UAE, December 13, 2023 – The COP28 United Nations climate summit, which concluded today in Dubai, revealed a stark contrast between what people power, science, and justice demand and what big polluters are willing to accept, according to experts from the Center for International Environmental Law, despite attempts by many leaders to portray it as a success.
COP28 was unquestionably a fossil fuel COP – not because it was hosted in a petrostate, presided over by a fossil fuel executive, and flooded by fossil fuel lobbyists, but because people power and mounting political will led by progressive governments finally put the central cause of the climate crisis at the center of the climate talks.
The test for governments was not just to talk about fossil fuels, it was to act on them, by delivering an unequivocal commitment to end the era of fossil fuels, to leave no loopholes for delay or inaction, and to ensure rich polluters move first and fastest, with real money on the table. They failed profoundly – underlining the need for alternative, complementary, and effective governance spaces to deliver a fossil fuel phaseout that is full, fair, fast, and funded.
Nikki Reisch, CIEL’s Director of Climate & Energy Program, said:
“Countries at COP28 faced a choice between fossil fuels and life. And big polluters chose fossil fuels. Despite the unstoppable momentum and unequivocal science behind the need for a clear signal on the phaseout of oil, gas, and coal – free of loopholes or limitations – the text failed to deliver one. This failure was thirty years in the making, borne of a process that allows a select few countries to hold progress hostage and the fossil fuel industry not just to sit at the table, but to play host. Survival cannot depend on lowest-common-denominator outcomes. We need alternative forums to manage the decline of fossil fuels, free from the influence of those who profit from them. So long as the biggest polluters, the United States chief among them, continue recklessly expanding oil and gas and staunchly refusing to provide climate finance on anything approaching the scale needed, the world will remain on a death course. Ultimately, lives depend not on what countries profess in these halls, but what they do outside of them. And we will continue to hold them accountable; the people-powered movement fighting for climate justice and the end of the fossil era will not back down.”
Lili Fuhr, CIEL’s Director of Fossil Economy Program, said:
“Just a year ago at COP27, carbon capture and storage (CCS), was merely a loophole, unnoticed by most. At COP28, the question of ‘to abate or not to abate’ took center stage, with CCS offered up as a technological savior. But under public scrutiny, the fossil fuel industry’s favorite pretext was stripped bare, exposing the abysmal track record of carbon capture technologies and the climate-wrecking reality of ‘abated’ fossil fuels like ‘clean’ hydrogen, ‘blue’ ammonia, or ‘low carbon’ gas.
“The fossil fuel industry called in record numbers of lobbyists, but they were met with a united front of science and grassroots power. Carbon capture pipedreams were exposed as a massive and dangerous distraction that could ignite the fuse of some of the largest carbon bombs. Now, stripped of its facade, the fossil emperor has no clothes and the industry has no license to pollute. Industry greenwashing tactics must not derail our path to a fossil-free economy.”
Sébastien Duyck, Campaign Manager for Human Rights and Climate Change and Senior Attorney at CIEL, said:
“Despite being touted by the host country as the most inclusive COP ever, independent and critical voices from the region were barred from participating. The UAE’s decision to initiate a new collective trial of political detainees during the summit, under the global community’s watchful eye, was deeply concerning. UN officials further restricted civil society’s freedom of speech — particularly regarding the war on Gaza and human rights in the Gulf region — preventing civil society from holding governments accountable and demanding climate justice.
“In stark contrast, while civil society was muzzled, more than 2,000 fossil fuel lobbyists were welcomed with open arms and allowed to freely promote the economic interests of their industry.
“By participating in COP28 without forcefully denouncing these abuses, governments and UN authorities have made themselves complicit in the host country’s PR stunt. As Parties accepted Azerbaijan’s offer to host COP29 despite its restrictions on free speech and history of fossil fuel-linked diplomatic scandals, they must learn from the failures of COP28 and urgently establish robust guardrails against human rights abuses and corporate capture in order to protect what little credibility is left in this process.”
Lien Vandamme, CIEL Senior Campaigner, said:
“While the climate crisis is devastating people and communities around the world, the deal agreed at COP28 is a testament to wealthy nations’ persistent avoidance of responsibilities. The Loss and Damage Fund will do little to repair and remedy the widespread human rights violations communities are suffering from decades of climate inaction. The millions promised for the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28 are a drop in the ocean of what is needed. On the premise of urgently getting the Loss and Damage Fund to reach communities, developed countries have pushed through a flawed structure, yet they now fail to deliver the hundreds of billions necessary to make it work.
“This speaks to the hypocrisy we’ve seen in these conversations and the limitations of treating loss and damage finance as charity rather than an obligation. The same hypocrisy undermined any possibility of getting an ambitious outcome on fossil fuel phaseout, as nations like the US and in Europe refuse to deliver the public finance needed to make a just energy transition happen in developing countries. Their continued expansion and export of fossil fuels, coupled with lack of commitment to support a global energy transition, make their speeches empty words. This is compounded by spending billions on war and militarization, further undermining their proclaimed intentions.”
Erika Lennon, CIEL Senior Attorney, said:
“After two weeks of negotiations and attempts to pass off carbon markets as climate finance, Parties finally succeeded by preventing the adoption of weak rules under Article 6 that would have opened the door to dangerous distractions and undermined human rights, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and our chances to stay below 1.5°C. At a COP that was largely about fossil fuels, after a year of scandals revealing failures and human rights violations in carbon markets, refusing to succumb to the pressure to adopt weak rules was the bare minimum.
“No matter how fervently proponents claim that offsets can be improved, they will never reduce emissions if they are used to offset fossil fuel production and use. And no amount of rhetoric can turn carbon markets into the real, grants-based climate finance owed to support developing countries in adapting to the climate crisis and transitioning to a fossil-free future. Failure to adopt weak rules to enable carbon trading was one of the few right decisions countries made in Dubai; endorsing carbon markets with few safeguards would have made the COP28 outcome even more catastrophic.”
Mary Church, Senior Geoengineering Campaigner at CIEL, said:
“It is alarming to see highly risky and speculative solar and marine geoengineering technologies promoted as ‘climate intervention strategies’ at COP28. Manipulating the stratosphere or our oceans will not address the root causes of the climate crisis, but will cause further environmental harms and unprecedented risks to human rights.
“Science clearly shows that the only way to meet Paris Agreement goals is to phase out fossil fuels and protect and restore the ecosystems on which all life depends. We cannot allow dangerous distractions to delay that urgent task. When solar geoengineering is on the table this spring at the UN Environment Assembly, Parties must reject geoengineering technologies and prioritize real solutions.”
The annual UN climate summit unfolded against a backdrop of devastating climate chaos, unprecedented restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Condemning the genocide in the making in Gaza, climate justice advocates insisted every day at the COP that there can be no climate justice without human rights. CIEL joins the call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to illegal occupation and apartheid. We denounce the complicity of Western powers – including through their votes at the UN General Assembly and as they silence free speech and freedom of assembly for those speaking up against these international crimes and human rights abuses.
Media Contact
In Dubai, UAE: Niccolò Sarno, press@ciel.org, +41-22-506 80 37 (Signal and WhatsApp)
In Washington, DC: Maria Frausto, press@ciel.org, +1-202-569-8107