- EU countries’ climate ministers are to meet Today to decide the bloc’s negotiating position for this year’s COP28 summit.
- Ten of the EU’s 27 member countries are to demand a phase-out of all fossil fuel, but a similar number of countries are cautious.
EU countries’ climate ministers are to meet Today to decide the bloc’s negotiating position for this year’s COP28 summit. There are still splits over some key issues, such as how to push for a global deal to phase out fossil fuels. The European Union is the most ambitious negotiator at the annual United Nations climate talks. Where nearly 200 countries negotiate efforts to fight global warming.
The COP will begin on Nov. 30 in Dubai and a central decision on whether the countries will agree to phase out fossil fuels. Also, burning coal, oil and gas produces greenhouse gases, which are the main causes of climate change. EU diplomats said that 10 of the EU’s 27 member countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia, want the bloc to demand a phase-out of all fossil fuel. A similar number of countries – including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland and Slovakia – are more cautious. They want a phase-out only of “unabated” fossil fuels. This leaves a window for countries to keep burning coal, gas and oil. If they can use technology to capture the resulting emissions.
According to Malta’s Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, who said “the aim was to keep open this option “for sectors that are difficult to decarbonise.” This includes CO2-intensive industries such as chemicals and cement that have limited options to curb emissions. Also, EU countries must agree on their negotiating position unanimously, meaning one government can block it. Further, Fossil fuel producers and consumers – some of whom, like Saudi Arabia, have blocked attempts to agree a phase-out in recent meetings, including this year’s G20 summit. Moreover, they are expected to offer similar resistance at the COP28 summit. A draft of the EU’s negotiating position, seen, would call for a “global phase-out of fossil fuels”. This will include a peak in their consumption already in the near term.