Nearly 200 nations meeting in Dubai on Wednesday approved a first-ever call for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.
The biggest-ever COP meeting hosted more than 88,000 people, including a record number of lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry.
Toughening language from an earlier draft that was roundly denounced, the agreement calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.
The text, however, stopped short of calls during the summit for a “phase-out” of oil, gas and coal, which together account for around three-quarters of the emissions responsible for the planetary crisis.
The 2015 Paris summit endorsed checking warming at 1.5C—a goal repeated in the latest draft, but which critics say is virtually impossible without serious efforts to curb oil, gas and coal.