The world made historic pledge to transition away from fossil fuels – one year on, has it? | Science, Climate & Tech News
It’s 13 December 2023. Excited reports of a “landmark” global climate agreement reverberate around the world from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. At around 11am, weary diplomats with circles under their eyes from fierce, all-night negotiations cheer, cry and hug. The US’s climate envoy John Kerry throws his arms around German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. There’s a round of applause for Tina Stege, a fierce representative from the Marshall Islands who had fought among the hardest for the pledge. They and more than 190 other countries have just agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the culmination of a fraught two weeks of talks at the UN conference. This may not sound very “historic”, given burning fossil fuels is the number one cause of climate change, and these annual talks had been going on for almost 30 years. Image: German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock congratulates a tearful Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. Pic: AP Image: COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber and UN climate chief Simon Stiell applaud the final outcome. …