Draft Global Stocktake presents historic opportunity to secure fossil fuel phaseout agreement

The new draft of the Global Stocktake (GST), where countries and stakeholders measure progress towards the objectives of the Paris Agreement, was published overnight at the UN climate talks in Dubai. Governments will negotiate the text until the end of COP28, and this is the ground for where an agreement for a fast, fair, full, and funded phaseout of all fossil fuels could be achieved.

Romain Ioualalen, Global Policy Manager at Oil Change International said:

“The new draft of the Global Stocktake gets us closer to a historic opportunity to secure an agreement on a full fossil fuel phaseout. Countries must seize the opportunity to ensure the options on the table reflect a 1.5°C aligned pathway.

“We need an agreement to immediately decline fossil fuel production and use – which is currently absent from the draft Global Stocktake – as well as a full, fast, fair and funded fossil fuel phaseout. Just three years ago, it would have been unimaginable to see governments consider an inclusion of fossil fuel phaseout in any COP agreement.

“It is deeply concerning that the draft GST gives the fossil fuel industry a lifeline with dangerous distractions, like carbon capture and storage, and other abatement technologies. We urge parties to hold a strong line against these failed technologies and refuse any language that allows fossil fuel companies to justify continued oil and gas extraction, blow us well past 1.5°C, and lead to catastrophic climate consequences.

“Global leaders have to deliver a full package. We will not accept weak outcomes only on coal or renewables, and without addressing the primary driver of the climate crisis, fossil fuels. We need countries to reach an agreement that includes a just and equitable phase out of all fossil fuels, with rich countries agreeing to phase out fastest, as well as a rapid phase in of renewables, a doubling of energy efficiency, and rich countries agreeing to redirect trillions in finance from fossil fuel industry handouts to support the transition in the form of grants, not loans.”