Finland's Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Kai Mykkänen (NCP) has welcomed the deal reached on Wednesday at the UN's COP28 climate summit in Dubai.
"The world is a slightly better place than one might have expected 24 hours ago," Mykkänen said at a press conference.
In an effort to tackle climate change, the agreement calls on countries to transition “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".
Nearly 200 countries signed up to the deal, which is the first ever to call on all nations to transition away from fossil fuels.
COP28 president, Sultan Al Jaber, described the deal as "historic".
The power of words
The exact wording of the agreement caused the talks to stretch into days, with negotiators finally agreeing on the term "transition away" — in relation to fossil fuels — and not the proposed phrase "phasing out".
Verbs were also a source of consternation, with the final agreement saying it "calls on" all nations to transition away from fossil fuels.
Outi Honkatukia, head of the Finnish environment ministry's climate unit noted that this means implementing the agreement will remain voluntary.
Despite this, Honkatukia stated that she was pleased with the outcome given the challenging geopolitical situation.
"This was the best possible result," she said.
Mykkänen also noted the difficult negotiating conditions.
"An agreement on fossil fuels has been reached, even though there is conflict between developed and developing countries and those who consider themselves developing countries," Mykkänen said, noting further that this was the first time such an agreement has been reached at a UN-wide climate conference.
"Those who give up fossil fuels today will be the winners of tomorrow," Mykkänen said.
The Paris Agreement included a commitment to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
"The 1.5 degree target is all about what happens after the agreement is signed. We gave a signal that we are not giving up on the target," Marjo Nummelin, Finland's chief negotiator, said.
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