After fossil fuel deal, experts see challenging road ahead

With the dust settling on what has been hailed as a historic outcome at the COP28 climate conference, experts say much will now depend on how the shift away from fossil fuels will in reality take place, the role of developed countries in this effort and the sticky problem of inadequate climate finance on which there was little headway in Dubai.

- Jayashree Nandi

The deal, approved by nearly 200 countries in the UAE on Wednesday, contains the first call for a transition from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner, while accelerating action in this decade to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Experts said there remain critical questions --- such as, can developed countries eat into the remaining room the world has to burn fossil fuels.

They also said that though the language may appear to give a sense of time for countries to do what they need to in order to honour this consensus, changes in policies and entire new outlook for economies need to be immediate.

For countries like India, this would mean a calibrated approach on how they can transition while meeting development aspirations.

“I think for the first time there was a sense of urgency and sense of the crisis. In spite of the deep divisions between the North and the South, the inconvenient truth --- that we have to collaborate and that we have to come together --- was recognised and accepted at COP28,” said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment.