Fossil fuels: Is a breakthrough within reach at COP28?

A paradox has run through the COP28 meeting from start to finish: This is a global summit on addressing climate change, yet it is hosted in an oil nation with an oil baron in the president’s chair. But a meeting filled with contrasts and contradictions is not necessarily a fruitless one.

The precise text of the final communique is still being hammered out in last-minute bargaining. While nonbinding, it will represent a unanimously agreed-upon statement of purpose from the world’s nations, gathered in the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Dubai. 

For now, climate advocates are up in arms over the draft text’s lack of the word “phaseout” in reference to fossil fuels. Yet the draft text does go further