EU wrangles over negotiating stance for COP28 climate summit

Fossil

16/10/2023 05:00

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      Ministers meet to agree EU's COP28 negotiating position
    

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      Countries split over strength of fossil fuel phase-out
    

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      EU stance may set the tone for COP28 ambition
    

  
    By Kate Abnett
       BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - European Union countries'
climate ministers meet on Monday to decide the bloc's
negotiating position for this year's COP28 summit - but they are
still split over some key issues, like how hard to push for a
global deal to phase out fossil fuels.
    The EU is typically one of the most ambitious negotiators at
the annual United Nations climate talks, where nearly 200
countries negotiate efforts to fight global warming. This year's
COP28 conference begins on Nov. 30 in Dubai.
    A central decision will be whether countries at the COP
agree for the first time to phase out fossil fuels. Burning
coal, oil and gas produces greenhouse gases that are the main
cause of climate change.
    Around 10 of the EU's 27 member countries including Denmark,
France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia want the
bloc to demand a phase out of all fossil fuels, EU diplomats
told Reuters.
    A similar number - including the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Italy, Malta, Poland and Slovakia - are more cautious. 
    They want a phase-out only of "unabated" fossil fuels,
leaving a window for countries to keep burning coal, gas and oil
if they use technology to "abate" - meaning capture - the
resulting emissions.
    EU countries must agree their negotiating position
unanimously, meaning one government can block it.
    The split reflects simmering global tensions. EU countries
opposing a full phase-out include poorer nations who fear the
impact of weaning their economies off fossil fuels.
    Fossil fuel producers and consumers - some of whom, like
Saudi Arabia, have blocked attempts to agree a phase-out in
recent meetings including this year's G20 summit - are expected
to raise similar resistance at the COP28 summit.
    A draft of the EU's negotiating position, seen by Reuters,
would call for a "global phase-out of  unabated  fossil fuels
and a peak in their consumption already in the near term". 
    The brackets around "unabated" indicate EU countries have
not yet agreed on the word.
    Other major emitters are watching and some diplomats said a
weakened stance from the EU - the world's third-biggest economy
- could kill off hopes of an ambitious COP28 deal.
    "If the EU fails to do so, how can we expect an
ambitious (COP28) outcome?" one EU diplomat said.
    Fossil fuel subsidies are another sore point, with wealthy
western nations including France and the Netherlands seeking an
EU call to phase them out by 2025. Fossil fuel-reliant economies
including Poland do not want a date.
    Countries will also decide whether to announce publicly that
the EU expects to overshoot its legally-binding target to slash
net greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030, as a result of the
CO2-cutting policies the EU passed in the last two years.

 (Reporting by Kate Abnett, editing by Jan Strupczewski and
Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((Kate.Abnett@thomsonreuters.com;))