- Nepal's urban poor count cost of 'nightmare' floods
- E.Guinea, Gabon clash at ICJ over oil-rich islands
- New blow for UK's Starmer as growth data disappoints
- China's top banks to tweak mortgage rates to boost housing market
- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
UN draft deal calls for 'transitioning away' from fossil fuels
A draft UN climate deal called Wednesday for the world to transition away from fossil fuels, in a last-ditch bid to break a deadlock between nations seeking a phase-out from oil, gas and coal and Saudi-led crude producers.
Following all-night negotiations, the text proposed by the Emirati presidency of the COP28 summit in Dubai would, if approved, mark the first time that all fossil fuels are addressed in the 28-year history of international climate conferences.
The text calls for "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science".
But the document does not mention the "phase-out" demanded by Western nations and low-lying island states most vulnerable to rising seas and tropical storms.
The COP28 presidency scheduled a plenary session at 9:30 am (0530 GMT) in the hope of the text receiving consensus approval from nearly 200 nations.
Stephen Cornelius of the conservation group WWF called the new draft a "sorely needed improvement", while still voicing disappointment at the lack of a full-on "phase-out" of fossil fuels.
"If this text is agreed by countries, it would represent a significant moment," he said.
- Stronger calls -
The two-week conference in Dubai, a glitzy metropolis built on petrodollars, was supposed to end Tuesday but went into overtime as nations struggled to agree on what to do with fossil fuels, the main culprits of the climate crisis.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, who heads the United Arab Emirates' national oil company, was viewed with suspicion by climate campaigners worried that the fossil fuel industry would prevail again.
Jaber had proposed a draft on Monday that was roundly rejected as too weak for merely suggesting that nations "could" reduce the consumption and production of fossil fuels, among other options.
The new draft explicitly "calls on" all nations to contribute through a series of actions, including transitioning from fossil fuels.
While not using the term "phase-out" on fossil fuels, it endorses work towards a phase-down of "unabated coal power" -- meaning that coal with carbon capture technology to reduce emissions, panned by many environmentalists as unproven, could continue.
It also calls for "phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions, as soon as possible".
Island nations, backed by Western powers, responded that they would not sign their own "death warrant", forcing Jaber back to the drawing board.
Jaber held talks deep into the night with negotiators from across the world in his office in the sprawling Expo City complex.
European officials had signalled that they were willing to find compromise language while US climate envoy John Kerry said "progress" was made in the talks.
- 'Super-majority' vs OPEC nations -
The 2015 Paris summit endorsed checking warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius -- a goal repeated in the latest draft, but which critics say is virtually impossible without serious efforts to curb oil, gas and coal.
More than 130 countries from Europe, the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Americas, including Brazil and the United States, joined forces to call for an exit from oil, gas and coal.
EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said a "super majority" of the nearly 200 countries in the talks wanted stronger action on fossil fuels.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq have been the most vocal opponents of a phase-out, and the OPEC oil cartel had urged its members to block any deal targeting fossil fuels.
At an energy conference in neighbouring Qatar on Tuesday, Kuwaiti oil minister Saad Hamad Nasser Al Barrak said a phase-out was a "racist and colonial" proposal that would wreck economies in the region.
Iraq's oil minister, Hayyan Abdul Ghani Al Sawad, said: "Fossil fuels will remain the major source of energy in the whole world".
D.Goldberg--CPN