Phasing out fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are responsible for the climate crisis, so why did it take decades for international climate agreements to explicitly acknowledge this reality?
Phasing out fossil fuels.
Climate change has been discussed since the 1980s, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992, and the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. But until recently, none of the international conventions or agreements, or even COP outcome documents, mentioned what was actually causing climate change!
All these summit decisions and texts focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, rather than naming the actual culprit, until the last few years. At COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, fossil fuels were mentioned in an outcome document for the first time. But it was framed in extremely vague terms.
The outcome documents from the summit included phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and gradually reducing coal-fired power generation.
However, the terms oil and natural gas did not appear at all. Then, in 2023, at COP28 in Dubai, hosted by the fossil fuel-producing state of United Arab Emirates, the expression “fossil fuels” appeared in a COP outcome document for the first time.
And for the first time, a COP decision included the phrase “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” In fact, the draft text had called for “phasing out fossil fuels.” But following objections from oil-producing states, the wording was changed to “transitioning away.”
However, this was a first, and a last. None of the COPs that followed made any further reference to these terms again!
But the genie was already out of the bottle. In 2022, countries led by small island states such as Vanuatu and Tuvalu put forward a call at the UN General Assembly for an international agreement to prevent the expansion of fossil fuels. Because their very existence was at stake. In the following years, the call to restrict fossil fuels gained support from other countries as well.
These states formed the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, to push for the adoption of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, with support from various civil society organizations. Most recently in April, 60 countries including Türkiye as an observer, came together in Colombia to hold the first international summit for this purpose. Whether or not the term fossil fuels will appear in the outcome document will be a key issue at COP31 in Antalya this November as well. We’ll see.
