Hosts of Cop28 in last-ditch attempt to forge fossil fuels deal

The hosts of the Cop28 climate summit will make a last-ditch attempt today to forge a fresh deal on the future of the climate, after their original attempt was roundly rejected by rich and many poor countries.

- Fiona Harvey, Nina Lakhani

A new text laying out a potential deal on fossil fuels was under preparation for more than 24 hours, as the fortnight-long talks stretched nearly a day past their official deadline of yesterday morning in Dubai.

Sultan AI Jaber, the president of the talks on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, engaged in an intense round of shuttle diplomacy throughout yesterday and into the early hours of this morning, meeting heads of delegation until 3am.

Nations were still deeply divided over whether to phase out fossil fuels after an initial text proposed "reducing both [their] production and consumption".

This was couched merely as one of a list of options that countries "could" act on, which was unacceptably weak to many vulnerable countries.

A group of countries described the text as "a death warrant" for small island states.

Rich countries have failed to show the leadership necessary to solve the climate crisis, and many are too mired in their own hypocrisy over fossil fuels to break the impasse at Cop28, climate justice advocates told the Guardian.