There will be “consultations and deliberations” on whether to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels when governments gather in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November, Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry assured when he was talking to reporters at the end of a gathering of 50 climate ministers in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
The issue sparked controversy that led to a bitter division among governments at the Cop27 climate talks he chaired last November.
Corroborating Shoukry’s point, Denmark’s climate minister Dan Jorgensen said he has no doubt it will be part of the discussion ahead of Cop28” even though he was unsure if an agreement would be reached in Dubai later this year.
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Shoukry said there was “a general recognition of the importance of reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and being able to transition towards renewable energy, clean energy.” He added: “This has to be taken in perspective of what constitutes a just transition”.
An alliance of more than 80 countries wanted the countries’ joint declaration to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels during Cop27 UN summit in Egypt in what would have expanded and strengthened the agreement to phase down coal made at Cop26 the previous year.
However, these agreements have to be signed off by every country before it can be approved and a small group of fossil fuel-producing states like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia opposed the motion. The Egyptian chairs did not include it in the final text, angering blocs like the European Union which reluctantly accepted it.
Story was adapted from CHN.
