Draft climate deal fails to ‘phase out’ fossil fuel

Subject: Environment

Section: Int Conventions

Context:

At the ongoing COP28 in Dubai, UAE, the draft climate deal did not ask countries for ‘phasing out’ coal but recommended to “rapidly phase down unabated coal,” that countries such as India, Indonesia and China — major consumers of coal power — could find objectionable.

Details:

There is a need to bring parity between coal, oil and gas, and the need to do away with them to keep temperature increase below 1.5°C by the end of the century.
It called for “reduce both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science.”
Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and CO2 is a GHG.
Industrial activities, transportation, and deforestation contribute to GHG emissions.
Burning of fossil fuel contributes nearly 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions of which coal makes up about 40% and oil and gas collectively constitute the rest.