'Come with solutions, Cop28 chief tells nations as talks enter final hours

Ministers and negotiators must come to the vital final meetings of Cop28 without prepared statements or rigid red lines and be prepared to compromise, the president of the UN climate summit has said.

- Fiona Harvey , Nina Lakhani, Patrick

Sultan Al Jaber , whose position is now pivotal to the talks as they enter their final days, yesterday convened a majlis of all countries, a meeting in the traditional form of an elders’ conference in the United Arab Emirates.

The climate talks have reached an impasse over whether to phase out or phase down fossil fuels, with just a day and a half of official negotiating time left before the scheduled conclusion tomorrow morning.

“I want everyone to come prepared with solutions,” said Al Jaber, who has faced criticism over his other role as head of the UAE national oil company, Adnoc. “I want everyone to come ready to be flexible and to accept compromise. I told everyone not to come with any prepared statements and no prescribed positions. I really want everyone to rise above self-interests and to start thinking of the common good.”

But there is some optimism coming from the discussions. Catherine Abreu of the climate advocacy group Destination Zero said: “In eight years of attending climate talks, I have never felt more that we were talking about what really matters. Hearing ministers from all around the world talk straight about the realities of phasing out fossil fuels is something I could not have imagined happening even two years ago.