UN warns that the world will miss climate targets unless fossil fuels are phased out, according to an article in The Guardian by Environmental Editor, Fiona Harvey. This is a remarkable declaration by the UN, which has not previously called for the phase of fossil fuels so explicitly. Unfortunately, the UN's draft with this important language now appears to have been removed.
There is so much money being made by fossil fuel exporting countries, that in nearly all prior rounds of climate talks and negotiations, discussion of the need to phase out fossil fuels resulted in unresolved controversy. Yet, because we have failed to curtail carbon emissions, and In fact, they are still rising, the UN declared this "a critical moment" with a "rapidly narrowing window" for governments to reduce their emisisons. The language came out in the UN's report which was published in draft form on September 8th.
Governments are failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and to stave off climate disaster. Meeting the goals will require "phasing out all unabated fossil fuels," according to the draft report entited "Sythesis Report of the Technical Dialogue of the First Global Stocktake." The UN published this draft, despite recognizing that that some oil-producing countries may find that statement hard to take. Meanwhile, the draft now appears to have been embargoed and removed from the UN's website, which is very much the way things have been going all along. We know what we need to do but those profiting from fossil fuels continue to have the power to block progress in phasing down use of those fossil fuels.
Read The Guardian's 'A critical moment’: UN warns world will miss climate targets unless fossil fuels phased out, by Fiona Harvey, Environmental Editor, published September 8, 2023.
