Fact and Fiction in the Dubai cop’s Decision on Fossil Fuels

The flagship decision of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, issued on 13 December 2023, appears to call for the elimination of fossil fuels. This would be a first in the annals of the international legal regime on climate change. In reality, I argue, while the decision acknowledges that the world must move away from fossil fuels, it concedes that there is no known practical way of doing so. The combined effect of these positions is the same as the understanding which states had settled on prior to the Dubai conference, namely that each state would work at its own self-determined pace to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.