COP28 approves landmark deal

On 13 December, the COP28 climate summit approved an unprecedented deal to transition away from fossil fuels for the first time.

Máté Heisz, Director of Global Affairs at SolarPower Europe (he/him) said:

“What a momentous day. World leaders have committed to tripling our renewable energy capacity by 2030 and acknowledged that renewable energy will be crucial to tackling the climate crisis.

The specific inclusion of solar, wind and storage for the first time signifies the critical role renewables must play in delivering a clean, and just energy transition this decade.

However, we’ve still missed an opportunity to phase out fossil fuels. The final outcome text falls short on coal and fossil fuel subsidies. It is also disappointing to see the recognition of the role for so-called ‘transitional fuels’ like natural gas – research shows that gas is not transitional.

While a significant win for the renewable energy sector, we now need to follow this up with urgent action.”

Notes

• The Global Renewables Alliance launched the ‘3xRenewables by 2030’ campaign in September 2023, to issue a unified call to world leaders to commit to a tripling global renewable energy capacity target to at least 11,000 GW by 2030.
• The Global Solar Council (GSC) is a member of the Global Renewables Alliance; GSC CEO Sonia Dunlop is Vice-Chair of the Global Renewables Alliance.

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