Call for fossil fuel phase-out on global stocktake agenda: U.N. report

Global stocktake at COP28 in Dubai may call for phase-out of fossil fuels, reform of subsidies and tripling of renewable energy capacity. Possible elements include phase-out of coal power by 2040, doubling of low-carbon hydrogen production and doubling of energy efficiency improvements.

Calls to phase out unabated fossil fuels, reform subsidies on it and triple global renewable energy capacity may find their way into the outcome of the first-ever global stocktake, a periodic assessment of collective efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.

Initiated in Glasgow in 2021, the first-ever global stocktake will conclude at the annual climate talks (COP28) in Dubai in December.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently released a report summarising submissions made by countries and non-party stakeholders regarding the political response to the global stocktake.

"They will inform negotiations but there's no guarantee any particular element will make it into the final text. With that said, fossil fuel phase-out is prominently featured in this long list of possible decision elements," Natalie Jones, a policy advisor at climate policy think tank International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), said.

According to the UNFCCC report, possible elements of the global stocktake outcome could include a call to parties on "phase-out of fossil fuels, support global commitment to accelerate the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels, and efforts to phase out inefficient fuel subsidies by 2025, supported by enabling environments and upscaling investments in renewable energy".

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in September that global demand for oil, natural gas and coal is likely to peak by 2030. The IEA termed it an encouraging development but "not nearly enough" to limit the rise in global average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Countries promised to phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh in 2022, but they hit record highs in 2022.