Time to transition away from fossil fuel

The just-concluded United Nations Climate summit – Conference of the Parties 28 (COP28) – in Dubai has finally addressed the elephant in the room: fossil fuels. Despite aggressive lobbying by oil and natural gas-producing countries and multinational companies, the gathering of world leaders, policymakers and climate scientists finalised a deal to transition away from greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal by 2050 to keep the temperature rise within the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark above the pre-industrial level.

This hard-fought agreement is truly historic. It is for the first time in its 28 years of climate negotiations that the conference of the parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change pledged to transition away from fossil fuels, which includes oil and gas. No doubt it is a tough goal and will test the commitment of the nations to walk the talk. The changeover necessitates a redesigning of policies, subsidies and regulations by countries worldwide. COP26 at Glasgow had issued a call to ‘phase down’ coal but the issue remained contentious because of divisions among nations over eliminating all fossil fuels. In the run-up to COP28, it became increasingly clear that the issue of oil and gas cannot be put on the back burner. Another issue that warranted urgent attention was the unfulfilled promises made by the rich and developed nations to support poor countries in dealing with climate disasters.