COP28 Presidency in Dubai to issue new Global Stocktake draft, including language on fossil fuels

Dubai: The UAE Presidency of COP28 will release a new draft of the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement, Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, Director-General of COP28, announced Tuesday - the scheduled final day of the UN Climate Conference in Dubai. 


This comes after the UAE COP Presidency released the first draft of the Stocktake on Monday, which resulted in Parties having “deeply split views”, especially on the language around fossil fuels, said Al Suwaidi. 


He added: “Lots of Parties felt it didn’t fully address their concerns. We expected that. In fact, we wanted the text to spark conversations, and that’s what’s happened.” 


Al Suwaidi insisted this is "entirely" normal for a consensus-based process. “When we released it, we knew opinions were polarised, but we didn’t know where each country’s like red lines were.”


The coalition of countries who advocated for the phase-out of fossil fuels in the Stocktake text, especially island nations, had strongly opposed Monday’s draft. The EU and the US are also among the coalition of pro-fossil fuel phase-out nations. 


New draft 


Following overnight deliberations with the Parties, the UAE Presidency has decided to issue a new draft, said AlSuwaidi. “The text includes all the elements we need for a comprehensive plan to 2030. It’s all that mitigation adaptation means of implementation loss and damage. And we’ve been seeking the right balance between those elements,” he added. 


However, the Director-General still needed to provide an exact time frame for when the next draft would be released.

He said: “We will open to further feedback when the new text is released. The Presidency is calling for the highest possible ambition, and we’re committed to helping the parties agree on the best plan they can for the world. We will keep you updated as best we can.”


Will COP28 run overtime? 


In response to a Gulf News question on the two-week climate conference running overtime like in past editions, Al Suwaidi said that the Presidency wants the "most ambitious" outcome today (Tuesday, December 12). 


“We would all like to finish on time, but we all want to get the most ambitious outcome possible. That’s our singular goal,” he said.


“Our COP Presidency will do whatever is needed to make sure that we get that outcome today. I think we can work to deliver,” said Al Suwaidi.