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UN releases draft COP27 climate agreement, omits fossil fuel limits – JURIST

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Thursday published a draft agreement on climate change from the COP27 climate summit. The agreement includes preliminary measures to keep the average global temperature from increasing beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius but notably omits a comprehensive plan to target fossil fuel emissions.The draft begins with a discussion of multilateralism and its importance in solving the climate crisis and then highlights various aspects of the climate crisis such as food insecurity and energy instability. The draft text includes mention of a potential agreement on implementing increased measures to address loss and damage due to climate change. The proposal includes increased resources devoted to the Santiago Network, a branch of the UN office on climate change dedicated to providing financial, technical and scientific resources for underserved countries experiencing the brunt of climate change’s affects.The draft has already been widely criticized by climate activists. Head of Delegation for Greenpeace International Yeb Saño criticized the draft for its lack of urgency and failure to reduce fossil fuels, saying:After initially failing to even mention fossil fuels, the draft text is an abdication of responsibility to capture the urgency expressed by many countries to see all oil and gas added to coal for at least a phase down. It is time to end the denial, the fossil fuel age must be brought to a rapid end.While nations like the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union have backed the commitment to reducing fossil fuels, the proposal is expected to receive opposition from major countries such as India and Saudi Arabia.