Nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.

For the first time since nations began meeting three decades ago to tackle climate change, diplomats from nearly 200 countries agreed to a global pact that explicitly calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” like oil, gas and coal that are dangerously heating the planet.

The sweeping agreement, which comes during the hottest year in recorded history, was reached on Wednesday after two weeks of furious debate at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. European leaders and many of the nations most vulnerable to climate-fueled extreme weather were urging language that called for a complete “phaseout” of fossil fuels. But that proposal faced intense pushback from major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia and Iraq as well as fast-growing countries like India and Nigeria.

Archive

  • YungOnions
    11·
    1 year ago

    I agree, greenwashing is a real problem. Hence my point around holding these people to account. We all have a responsibility to ensure they cannot back out of these commitments, and it’s only with that kind of pressure we’ll see any meaningful change. Luckily we are starting to see that kind of sea change begin to happen.

    That being said, I do believe that it is also important to foster positivity when it comes to climate change, to ensure we don’t drown out motivation with defeatism.