I never really understood the whole agreement thing where the oil producing countries need to approve a plan. First of all, there’s obviously a conflict of interest. Secondly, the other countries could just phase out their use of oil based products.

We are past peak oil, the world is already transitioning away from fossil, out of sheer necessity, because of the finiteness of conventional resources. Everyone involved knows that. The only “problem” is the timeframe: there’s about a decade left of investments towards capacity increase at the current pace before going over the carbon budget for a 2°C warming scenario. That’s a tough deadline to navigate for those countries.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

DUBAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst impacts of climate change, a first of its kind deal signaling the eventual end of the oil age.

The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a powerful signal to investors and policy-makers that the world is now united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists say is the last best hope to stave off climate catastrophe.

“It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide of the agreement.

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the COP28 agreement to “phase out” oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group OPEC, which argued that the world can slash emissions without shunning specific fuels.

The proposed deal would specifically call for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner … so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”

It also calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, speeding up efforts to reduce coal, and accelerating technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.

The original article contains 311 words, the summary contains 250 words. Saved 20%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!