GOVERNMENTS moved closer to a watered-down final deal today, avoiding calls from more than 100 nations to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, as the United Nations Cop28 climate talks in Dubai neared their culmination.

A new draft issued this afternoon on the global stocktake — the summit’s assessment of where the world is with its climate goals and how it can reach them — called for countries to reduce “consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”

Its publication sparked a frenzy of fine-tuning by government envoys and sharp analysis by advocacy groups just hours before today’s planned late-morning finish to the talks — though many observers expect business to run over time, as is common at the annual summit.