WASHINGTON, D.C. – The resolution from the 190 participating countries at the 28th annual U.N. climate conference falls short of calling for a decisive phasing out of fossil fuels, one of the core drivers of the global climate and biodiversity crises, but for the first time recognizes the need to transition away from fossil fuels and firmly sets ambition and action toward limiting global warming in line with the Paris Agreement (1.5C/2.7F).

“World leaders, titans of industry, conservation champions, and, most importantly, frontline communities all have seen — and experienced firsthand — the impacts of our warming and increasingly dangerous and destabilized climate. The agreement emerging from COP28 rightly emphasizes nature as a solution, but the failure to acknowledge the need to phase out the use of fossil fuels is dispiriting,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, executive vice president of conservation and justice at the National Wildlife Federation. “We cannot allow a few nations to deter us from the bold steps we need. Instead, we should listen to frontline communities across the world and move as quickly as we can to safer, cleaner and more just sources of energy.”

In addition, the conference resulted in agreements and pledges that represent important progress in finance, energy transition and prioritizing nature conservation including:

• Committing to tripling renewable energy use by 2030 and doubling the rate of energy efficiency. This ambition is crucial: Nations need to quicken the pace, without compromising on commitments to protect biodiversity and culturally significant sites.
• A greater recognition of the role of nature in fighting climate change, including text in the Global Stocktake that connects action on climate and biodiversity and acknowledges the importance of resilient food systems. The COP28 joint statement on climate, nature, and people also rightly acknowledges that there is no path to climate action without nature, as do the Biden Administration’s announcements around using nature-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. This recognition should be reflected with robust funding and technical support to ensure all communities can implement and benefit from nature-based solutions. This work should also be informed by Indigenous Knowledges, developed over millennia; respect Indigenous rights; and ensure consultation with Indigenous communities on planning and decision-making through the use of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
• The formal establishment of a loss and damage fund, which will support vulnerable countries disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Countries have already pledged millions of dollars for the fund — a start, but nowhere near the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to truly cope with the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change. The United States pledged $17.5 million for the fund, a small sum considering the country’s actions have disproportionately contributed to climate change. Developed nations have a responsibility to support the fund and help frontline communities around the world who are enduring the worst impacts of climate change.
• Emphasizing the importance of conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems as well as the goal of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, which makes good on the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests.

The agreement helps set out a course for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, and notes the essential role that nature should play in achieving this. But to ensure the agreement’s words become actions, there is a pressing need to monitor actual progress toward the announced goals. Immediate action is needed to accelerate reducing our reliance upon fossil fuels, prioritize the needs of frontline communities and those affected by the transition, and sufficiently invest in supporting vulnerable communities from the harmful impacts of climate change. Countries have until 2025 to base their new national climate ambition targets on the agreement.