--- title: Was COP28 A Success or Flop? Depends Who You Ask description: The COP28 climate conference in Dubai ended with an agreement that acknowledges fossil fuels' harm but does little to limit climate change. canonical: https://time.com/6455646/was-cop28-a-success-or-flop/ author: Aryn Baker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-13T19:56:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-18T14:36:21.000Z article:section: Climate og:title: Was COP28 A Success or Flop? Depends Who You Ask og:description: COP28 was good for the U.A.E., but doesn't go far enough to avert climate change. og:url: https://time.com/6455646/was-cop28-a-success-or-flop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7ca398cb9e467bf/698a432d096a9434f76ae6e5/GettyImages-1812182228.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Opening Day of COP28 Climate Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Was COP28 A Success or Flop? Depends Who You Ask twitter:description: COP28 was good for the U.A.E., but doesn't go far enough to avert climate change. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7ca398cb9e467bf/698a432d096a9434f76ae6e5/GettyImages-1812182228.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Was COP28 a Success or Flop? Depends Who You Ask > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=60d9e2fd-3d23-4ef2-82b7-b985bbc889e4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: COP28 Ends With Historic Deal to ‘Transition Away’ From Planet-Warming Fossil Fuels [Watch (HLS stream): COP28 Ends With Historic Deal to ‘Transition Away’ From Planet-Warming Fossil Fuels](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cC0oYtNt.m3u8) (3:11)  _Published 2023-12-13. The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended in a historic deal that committed the world to a transition away from all fossil fuels for the first time._ by [Aryn Baker / Dubai](https://time.com/author/aryn-baker/) ## Aryn Baker / Dubai Updated: Dec 18, 2023 2:36 PM UTCPublished: Dec 13, 2023 7:56 PM UTC The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended in a historic deal that committed the world to a transition away from all fossil fuels for the first time. by [Aryn Baker / Dubai](https://time.com/author/aryn-baker/) ## Aryn Baker / Dubai Updated: Dec 18, 2023 2:36 PM UTCPublished: Dec 13, 2023 7:56 PM UTC _This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network._ There is nothing quite like an “I’ll try” response to my requests for my family to help more around the house to set my blood on fire. While those two words acknowledge the problem—my husband knows a heater in an empty room drives our electricity costs higher, my daughter knows that laundry left to molder in the washing machine will smell, and they both have seen that plants left unwatered will die—the phrase is nonetheless wholly lacking in conviction and commitment. In our household, it has become shorthand for “not happening anytime soon, if at all.” Fourteen days of tense negotiations over how the world should address the looming threat of climate change at the COP28 conference in Dubai concluded on Dec. 13 with a similar response. The 21-page “[Global Stocktake](https://unfccc.int/documents/636608)” text lays out the pathway that nations must take to limit global warming to the previously-agreed-upon goal of no more than 2°C higher than pre-industrial levels—beyond which scientists say severe storms, floods, droughts, heat, and wildfires will increasingly surpass humanity’s ability to adapt. The document is noteworthy for finally acknowledging that countries need to “transition away” from fossil fuels. Nonetheless, it is riddled with loopholes and lacks clear goals and fixed timelines. Boiled down into three words, it says, essentially, “We will try.” **Read More:** [_Why Colombia’s President is Determined to Ditch the Country’s Oil Wealth_](https://time.com/6344611/gustavo-petro-interview-cop28/) For those most immediately threatened by climate change, such as island nations and low-lying coastal countries already suffering the effects of sea-level rise, the final deal was not good enough. "We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step change in our actions," said Samoan chief negotiator Anne Rasmussen,[ speaking on behalf](https://twitter.com/edking%5FI/status/1734843196327301537?s=20) of the 39-nation Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which informs the climate negotiations process, have long said that the only way to keep climate change in check is to rapidly reduce emissions from fossil fuels. Yet, Rasmussen said, the final text did not adequately reflect that advice. “We reference the science in this text … but then we refrain from an agreement to take the relevant action in order to act in line with what the science says we need to do.” Still, the fact that fossil fuels got a mention at all is a triumph, says Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research organization focused on climate change. The draft text went through multiple iterations over the course of the negotiations, and one version, supported by oil and gas producing nations, dropped a reference to the root cause of climate change entirely. But pushback from the U.S., the E.U., and AOSIS saw fossil fuels put back in at the last minute, even though the final version lacked the concrete term “phaseout” that many nations, including Samoa, wanted to see. “Fossil fuels finally faced a reckoning at the U.N. climate negotiations after three decades of dodging the spotlight,” said Dasgupta, in a statement. “This historic outcome marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era.” In a sign of incremental progress, the new agreement also calls for a tripling of renewable energy and a doubling of energy efficiency by 2030\. But it failed to make any progress at all on coal, only repeating tired language dating back to COP26 in Glasgow, calling for an “acceleration of efforts towards a phasedown.” And in a turn of phrase that worries many climate scientists and activists, COP28’s final text also contains references to “transition” fuels that could be interpreted to mean natural gas, a potent source of planet-warming methane. There is also greater recognition of the need for adaptation measures to enable countries to adjust to climatic upheavals, but little on how such measures should be funded for poor and developing nations. Like any good compromise, the final agreement contains elements guaranteed to both please, and piss off, competing factions. As such, the outcome will be seen as a win for the U.A.E., which hosted COP28, and this year’s conference president[ Sultan Al Jaber](https://time.com/6335225/sultan-al-jaber-cop28-interview/), who managed to bridge the gap between petro states and countries on the frontlines of climate change. But that doesn’t mean that the talks themselves can be deemed a success, especially when it comes to the final outcome. **Read More:** [_What Happens When You Put a Fossil Fuel Exec in Charge of Solving Climate Change_](https://time.com/6335225/sultan-al-jaber-cop28-interview/) The year 2023 has already been declared the[ hottest on record](https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-november-2023-remarkable-year-continues-warmest-boreal-autumn-2023-will-be-warmest-year), with the earth’s average temperature briefly exceeding 2°C (3.6°F) above the pre-industrial average on[ Nov. 17](https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-temperature-exceeds-2degc-above-pre-industrial-average-17-november#:). Thousands died this year due to extreme heat, floods, storms, and wildfires linked to climate change and nearly[ 2 billion people](https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2023-12/Global%20drought%20snapshot%202023.pdf) are currently impacted by drought. The Panama Canal is drying up, the oceans[ have never been hotter](https://time.com/6298010/florida-hot-tub-water-record-heat/) in recorded history, and glaciers in both the Arctic and Antarctic are melting at unprecedented rates. The primary goal of the[ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change](https://unfccc.int/resource/process/guideprocess-p.pdf), which held the first COP (Conference of Parties) meeting in Berlin in 1995, was to “stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses at levels that would prevent ‘dangerous’ human interference with the climate system.” Yet year after year, emissions have continued to rise, bringing the planet dangerously close to the tipping point. “A successful COP means that global carbon emissions will stop \[rising\] this year,” says oceanographer[ Enric Sala](https://time.com/6307205/enric-sala-ocean-conservation/), who attended this year’s conference as an advocate for the oceans. “There has been significant progress. But unless we reduce emissions dramatically, phase off fossil fuels and replace them with renewables, while removing excess carbon from the atmosphere, then this COP has failed.” **Correction, Dec. 18** _The original version of this article contained a quote from Enric Sala that did not accurately convey his stance on global emissions. He believes they need to stop rising this year, not stop entirely._ ## Transcript For the very first time in a cop fossil fuels have been on the table as a major part of our negotiations and the decision that came out of this clearly and braces transitioning away from fossil fuels and energy systems. So as to achieve NetZero by 2050 that is a clear and bigger was message on one of the most complicated issues that we face and the first and easiest thing that countries need to do to make this commitment real. Is the stop building new unabated call and we will continue to fight for that. We supported the call for Clear language about the needs a largely phased out, the fossil fuels. Given the makeup of this 195 Nation editie. It's pretty clear that was more than a steep climb and you know, we hardly expected that we're just going to turn around do that immediately, but they did sign on and they are transitioning are people from the age of six countries who aren't even able to get in in time for the gavel and the before people even allowed to put up their flies and stand if you want to text it was gambled and so there's a little bit of a confusion of what this process is and if it's fair and it's been looking for or transparent. I think the UNS triplesafe process is broke and I think we saw so many lobbyists here and obviously while we are upset at the the the results, there's people here who are celebrating somebody here has had a successful coffee. That's a 2000 lobbyists and you know, we're giving crumbs to celebrate but SMS to celebrate flowers that would lie in our Graves. You know, how do we celebrate that there has been some improvement from the extremely low body dropped text that was given to us earlier this week. But the improvements have been incremental not transformative. There was a reference to transitioning away from fossil fuels and that's that signals a transition. But the time for signaling is long past and We were told this was going to be a historic Coffee & the outcome is far from it. It's lukewarm at best. It's not enough to acknowledge the science and what's needed to stay below 1.5 without putting in place the concrete action. So I'm disappointed in the outcome of 28 so long because obviously the the latest version of the text. The one that has just been approved is better than the one we had yesterday. But the one we had yesterday was so bad that it's not you know, it is easy to do better. Basically, there's been some improvement and he's a mention of transitioning away from us if you will not be happy because more than 100 States will actually biking the human photosynthesize out which is much stronger than conditioning away. So it is weaker, but it is the first time in the club's history that there is a call to transition away from old fossil fuels ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6455646/was-cop28-a-success-or-flop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6455646/was-cop28-a-success-or-flop/"},"headline":"Was COP28 a Success or Flop? 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