With as many as 118 countries pledging to treble installed renewable energy capacity, 50 oil and gas companies pledging to stop greenhouse emissions and a much-cherished announcement to operations Loss and Damage Fund, the COP28 climate talks in Dubai are making headlines for all the right reasons. Smoggy skies that had welcomed delegations from all over the world were rightly the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back as they dashed towards clean energy. From catastrophic floods in Pakistan to an unprecedented heat wave in Europe to orange skies in New York, this last year has done its level best to persuade the human race how lethal and immediate the threat of climate change is. However, simply embracing the clean revolution is not enough if world leaders actually wish to walk towards a better future. Clean power advocates stress the significance of government regulations to phase out fossil fuels. Voluntary commitments can never strike at the comprehensive agenda with the required level of political ambition. What was needed was for top consumers like China and leading producers, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran to join the rest of the international community as it aligns with the 1.5C North Star. More worryingly, no noteworthy development has arisen over the fate of fossil fuels and despite making headlines, the particulars of a healthy loss and damage fund, a three-decades-old demand by the victims of the West’s industrial greed are yet to be hammered out. The Emirati leadership might have had a lot of feel-good developments to boast its credentials, but for countries like Pakistan, whose very existence remains imperilled, mere lipservice or trips around the merry-go-round are not an option. As rightly demanded by interim prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, the current COP session should “deliver with action, not just words.” Immediate execution by the Global North of $100 billion committed to building climate resilience in developing countries would be a commendable step in this direction. *