Before the COP28 climate conference adjourned Wednesday, almost 200 countries signed on to an energy transition pledge to phase out fossil fuels. Or did they?

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Wednesday that Riyadh supported the final COP28 deal as it leaves countries to decide for themselves on suitable pathways to transition to cleaner sources of energy.

More than 100 countries had lobbied for strong language to “phase out” oil, gas and coal use, but faced opposition from the Saudi-led oil producer group OPEC, which argued that the world can slash emissions without shunning specific fuels.

“What is there now, the issue of immediate and gradual disposal (of fossil fuels) has been buried,” Prince Abdulaziz said in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, adding that the deal would not affect the ability of the world’s top oil exporter to sell its crude.

In reality, the pact calls on governments to increase the use of carbon removal technologies that could ostensibly prolong global reliance on fossil fuels, such as carbon capture and storage but is not a phase out. Whether or not the countries that signed on will actually follow through with the agreement’s requirements is anyone’s guess.

There are many instances of targets set at past UN climate conferences that have later been ignored. For example, two years ago, an agreement was reached at COP26 for countries to diminish using coal fired power plants. However, the International Energy Agency revealed this year that coal demand is at near record levels.

Not surprisingly, climate alarmists, were not happy:

Michael Mann … “The agreement to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ was weak tea at best,” he told AFP. “It’s like promising your doctor that you will ‘transition away from donuts’ after being diagnosed with diabetes. The lack of an agreement to phase out fossil fuels was devastating.”

“No doubt there will be lots of cheer and back-slapping… but the physics will not care,” said Kevin Anderson, a professor of energy and climate change at the University of Manchester.

Friederike Otto, a climatologist and leader in the field of assessing the role of climate change on specific extreme weather events, was equally damning.  … “With every vague verb, every empty promise in the final text, millions more people will enter the frontline of climate change and many will die.”

Additionally, the delegates of small nations complained they weren’t around when the compact was made. But what could they possibly be doing that could keep them from having at least one representative available to air concerns or raise issues?

None the less, the entire agreement (like the conference itself) is nothing more than a sham and opponents of fossil fuels walked away with nothing more than words on paper.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay