Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says a new fossil fuels deal struck at the COP28 summit marks "a significant day".
Nearly 200 countries agreed this week to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels — the first time the crucial pledge has been made in decades of UN climate talks – though many warned the deal still had significant shortcomings.
The agreement is stronger than a draft floated earlier in the week that angered several nations. But it fell short of calling for an outright phasing out of oil, gas and coal, and offers nations significant wriggle room in their "transition" away from those fuels.
Speaking from Dubai, Watts said it was "areally significant day here following the agreement and consensus decision".
"An agreement in effect to transition out the use of fossil fuels by 2050, and that is a significant achievement.
"That sets us a precedent for us to go forward now."
Simon Watts' comments come after a mixed reaction to the pledge from international experts. (Source: 1News)
He said the agreement had been "on a knife edge" yesterday.
"It's a significant step forward and it's important to recognise that this is the fist time in over 30 years that the fossil fuel element is actually included in writing.
"I think this sends a very clear signal to the market that this is the direction of travel. I think this is a turning point in regards to the way in which economies and countries around the world have made that decision.
"On that basis, that's lined up with the science that will allow us to limit warming to 1.5C. We don't do that, then our colleagues in the Pacific, in particular, are the ones that will pay the price without too much delay from now."
Watts said COP28 had been a conference of "very little sleep" and "continual dialogue".
"We've taken that obligation of representing and advocating on behalf of the Pacific very strongly.
"The real focus now is on implementation... we're deadly serious about it."
The deal has been met with a mixed reaction from international experts.
"Humanity has finally done what is long, long, long overdue," Wopke Hoekstra, European Union commissioner for climate action, said.
The document is the central part of the 2015 Paris accord and its internationally agreed-upon goal to try to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial times. So far, the world has warmed 1.2C since the mid 1800s.
Scientists predicted this year was all but certain to be the hottest on record.
Goals agreed at earlier summits have not been reached, in part because major emitters have not fulfilled their climate promises, or declined to sign on.
The deal doesn't go so far as to seek a "phase-out" of fossil fuels, despite the pleas of more than 100 nations including small island states and European nations.
Instead, it calls for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade".
— Additional reporting from Associated Press
SHARE ME