Mon. Dec 23rd, 2024

NNA – After another late night of haggling, there was no sign that thenbsp;COP28nbsp;talks on a draft agreement to reduce fossil fuel use were anywhere near completion, with negotiators waiting for a fresh text after wide criticism of a draft released Monday.

A deadline set by the Emirati hosts of the Dubai climate summit passed atnbsp;11am local time onnbsp;Tuesday without a deal, with negotiators expected to work overtime after fury on a proposal that stops short of phasing out fossil fuels.

quot;We have time and we are prepared to stay a little longer,quot; German Foreign Ministernbsp;Annalena Baerbocknbsp;said.

The team from thenbsp;Marshall Islandsnbsp;ndash; a low laying Pacific archipelago, threatened with submersion ndash; vowed to stay until the end. Itrsquo;s negotiator, John Silk, said that his country quot;did not come here to sign our death warrantquot;.

Campaigners had hoped the COP28 summit ndash; set in a glitzy metropolis built on petrodollars ndash; would take the historic step of calling for the first time for a global phase-out of fossil fuels, which account for three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for the planetary crisis.

But the latest draft of the 21-page text put forward by COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber ndash; himself head of the UAE#39;s national oil company ndash; does not go so far as to demand action on fossil fuels, only presenting measures that nations quot;couldquot; take.–agencies

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=========R.H.

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