Daily Times

One year after world leaders issued the landmark call for a global move away from fossil fuels, nations are failing to turn that promise into action, say climate diplomats, campaigners and policy experts.

Countries are being urged not to lose sight of that historic agreement ahead of November’s COP29 climate negotiations, where fossil fuels are not top priority. Despite last year’s climate deal calling for the first time on countries to “transition away from fossil fuels”, major economies are still planning oil and gas expansions in the decades ahead. Renewable technology like solar and wind is being rolled out at breakneck speed but not fast enough to stop burning more oil, coal and gas, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in October.

Global emissions — caused mainly by fossil fuels — are at record highs, pushing concentrations of planet-warming greenhouse gases to unprecedented levels, two UN agencies reported.

Since inking the watershed COP28 pact in Dubai “leaders have been grappling with how to turn those commitments into reality”, said Katrine Petersen from E3G, a policy think tank.

“There has been a bit of a vacuum of political leadership on some of this… and a potentially worrying trend that this landmark energy package has been slipping off leaders’ political agendas.” Countries threatened by climate disaster were “waiting in vain to see the sharp decline in fossil fuel production that was heralded”, said Pa’olelei Luteru, a Samoan diplomat.