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.
SYLVIA HIKINS welcomes a an in-depth study of environmental activism that shows how governments work against citizens who put community before profit
The future does not have to be climate chaos and social breakdown. MARC VANDEPITTE looks at the alternatives offered by the Global Justice Report, co-authored by Thomas Piketty
As fossil fuels have had their day, JOSIE MIZEN makes it clear that it is now the government’s responsibility to initiate the transition to alternative employment in a manner that is organised, efficient and effective



