Cop28 agrees landmark deal to transition away from fossil fuels | First Thing

Summit president hails historic package to accelerate climate action', but critics decry litany of loopholes' in final text. Plus, why the silent treatment is so painful

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Good morning.

Nearly 200 countries at the Cop28 climate summit have agreed to a deal that, for the first time, calls on all countries to transition away from fossil fuels to avert the worst effects of climate change.

What did Al Jaber say about the deal? We have delivered a robust action plan to keep 1.5C (2.7F) [of global heating above pre-industrial levels] in reach," he said. It is a plan that is led by the science. It is an enhanced, balanced, but make no mistake, a historic package to accelerate climate action. It is the UAE consensus. We have language on fossil fuel in our final agreement for the first time ever."

What's the reaction been like? The EU has welcomed the text. Wopke Hoekstra, the EU climate chief, said: Humanity has finally done what is long overdue. Thirty years we've spent to arrive at the beginning of the end of fossil fuels." However, Samoa's lead negotiator, Anne Rasmussen, said as the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States: This process has failed us".

What has Joe Biden said about support for Israel? There were signs before the vote was called that Biden might be tentatively moving towards a more critical posture towards Israel. At a 2024 re-election campaign fundraiser in Washington he warned the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he was losing international support for the war on Hamas - a danger that paradoxically now equally applies to Biden himself.