As COP28 reaches the midway point of the two-week negotiations, US climate envoy John Kerry has said the world needs to “phase out” some fossil fuels, while employing carbon capture methods, to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century, Bloomberg reports. The outlet continues: “While the EU and US are pushing for some kind of commitment to phase out fossil fuels, China, India and others have baulked at the approach. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister told Bloomberg the kingdom wouldn’t agree to phase down language in a final accord.” The Hindu quotes Kerry, who said “the science was clear on the need to phase out some fossil fuels”. The Hill adds that “Kerry’s comments come amid a heated debate at the climate summit about whether countries should call for a ‘phaseout’ or a less intense ‘phasedown’ of fossil fuels”. (See Carbon Brief’s new Q&A on this issue, which includes a table showing the various positions held by parties at COP28.) The New York Times calls this choice of language “the most contentious issue” at COP28. Climate Home News says: “Earlier in the week, more than 100 European, African and island states signed a joint statement calling for a phase-out of unabated fossil fuels and peak in their consumption this decade. It is the single biggest issue civil society is rallying behind at COP28.…The 24-page draft of the global stocktake published on Tuesday includes two forms of language on fossil fuel phase-out and an option to scrap it completely. The middle ground includes qualifiers ‘accelerating efforts’ to phase out ‘unabated’ fossil fuels and their ‘use’ — without mentioning production.” Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, has also called for a phase-out, the Guardian reports. The Independent says the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance “said that COP28 would be unsuccessful if the final agreement did not include a call for fossil fuel phase-out”. It adds that “Wopke Hoekstra, a former oil executive who is the European Union’s new climate commissioner, also said that all fossil fuels must be phased out.” BusinessGreen says: “Speaking to reporters earlier today, UN climate chief Simon Stiell called on ministers – who are set to arrive in Dubai over the next 24 hours to take on leadership of the negotiations from Friday – to push for an ambitious outcome.” The Energy Mix adds that an international delegation of mayors from more than 100 cities travelled to COP28 specifically to “call for fossil fuel phaseout”. The Associated Press reports that a new draft of the global stocktake is expected to be issued in the early hours of Friday morning.

In other COP28 news, the head of the International Monetary Fund tells the Guardian that “diverting the trillions of dollars by which the world subsidises fossil fuel production each year, and putting an implicit price on carbon emissions, would generate the vast amounts of cash needed to tackle the climate crisis”. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that former US vice president Al Gore “took aim at requirements from the UNFCCC that COP agreements must be achieved through consensus, arguing that it prevents commitments from being as strong and scientifically sound as they need to be to limit warming”. Speaking at a COP28 side event, Al Gore noted that the power to declare consensus ultimately lies with the COP president, who often ignores the protests of smaller nations. Elsewhere, the Washington Post points to the “large influx of business executives and lobbyists” to help explain how COPs have grown so big. And Reuters reports on the “deadlock” over choosing a venue for COP29. It says: “By this stage, the next host is normally planning the summit and laying the diplomatic groundwork for their presidency…The UAE has said it has no intention of hosting for a second time, but it remains a possibility. If no host can be chosen, the presidency could stay with the UAE for a second year, but with Germany holding the event. That option, which would mean another year of climate negotiations led by an OPEC member, is divisive.”

Wealthy countries have pledged just over £556m ($700) to the loss and damage fund – “the equivalent of less than 0.2% of the irreversible economic and non-economic losses developing countries are facing from global heating every year” – the Guardian reports. The newspaper continues: “The $100m pledge by the United Arab Emirates, the COP28 host country, was matched by Germany – and then slightly topped by Italy and France, which both promised $108m. The US, which is historically the worst greenhouse gas emitter – and the largest producer of oil and gas this year – has so far pledged just $17.5m, while Japan, the third largest economy behind the US and China, has offered $10m…Other pledges include Denmark at $50m, Ireland and the EU both with $27m, Norway at $25m, Canada at less than $12m and Slovenia at $1.5m. The loss and damage funds should be new and additional – and come as grants not loans, according to climate justice experts. Yet in most cases, the nature and timing of the pledged money remain unclear as few countries have released further details.” Separately, the Guardian reports that Somalia’s deputy prime minister has said loss and damage funding “needs to be fast-tracked and easy to access”, warning that Somalia cannot afford to take on more debt through loans.

Elsewhere, John Kerry tells Politico that the US  must end its “crazy” oil and gas subsidies to achieve its climate goals. Kerry has also warned the UK and Germany against a “business as usual” approach to fossil fuels, Politico says. Separately, Politico reports that US house energy and commerce chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers will no longer attend COP28 due to a “scheduling conflict”. The Washington Post says: “South Korea is rolling out a new ‘carbon-free’ campaign at this year’s COP28 that it says will reposition Seoul as a global leader in decarbonisation. But climate experts and advocates say the plan, which promotes some fossil fuel power generation, merely masks South Korea’s dependence on nonrenewable energy sources.” Meanwhile, Politico reports that “while everyone else was trying to rescue the world from climate catastrophe, Vladimir Putin was negotiating Russia’s oil exports down the road”. Forbes reports that six of the biggest dairy companies at COP28 “launched an alliance to curb methane emissions”. And the Guardian reports on “how COP28 is spending its rest day”.

China Energy Net covers a summary issued by China’s foreign ministry of executive vice premier Ding Xuexiang’s address at COP28, which explains that it reflected president Xi Jinping’s interest in collaboration with leaders from other countries and China’s “utmost political determination and wisdom, [which was] used to achieve the Paris Agreement”. The state-run newspaper China Daily reports that Zhao Yingmin, vice-minister of ecology and environment and head of the Chinese delegation to the COP28, said at a side event at the China pavilion that “while promoting climate adaptation at home, China will continue to support other developing nations in adapting to the climate crisis”. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quotes Danny Alexander, former UK minister and vice-president for policy and strategy at the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, who says that the “current level of funding by both public and private institutions for [energy transition] projects falls well short of what is required”. 

Meanwhile, a fossil fuel partnership between China and Russia could negatively impact the “substantial progress that can be achieved at COP28”, writes Daria Kurushina, Schwarzman fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, in a comment piece for the Diplomat. The China Daily publishes a piece attributing the west’s defence of Ukraine to deprioritisation of climate goals, quoting the Transnational Institute’s Nick Buxton as saying that “climate has unfortunately become the latest victim of the crossfire of war”, due to NATO military spending targets. In another China Daily article, Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute and “the father of climate economics”, writes that “through substantial investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and battery technologies, China has emerged as an international leader in addressing climate change”. 

Separately, China Energy Net reports that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has issued a draft policy document for comment that establishes a “preliminary coal mining capacity reserve system by 2027”. Chinese economic news outlet Jiemian reports that the Shidao Bay nuclear power station, the world’s first fourth-generation nuclear reactor, has “successfully completed a 168-hour continuous operation test” and has officially entered commercial operation. Chinese energy outlet BJX News reports that the NDRC has issued a policy document naming the “first batch” of pilot cities and industrial parks for carbon peaking, including Zhangjiakou, Shenyang, Ordos, Baotou, Tangshan, Taiyuan and Hangzhou. 

Finally, the Financial Times reports that EU leaders will “stress their rising concerns about Chinese industrial overcapacity” when meeting with Xi at a summit in Beijing on Thursday. This comes as China mobilises more “funding into manufacturing”, the newspaper adds. Bloomberg says that EU leaders will send out a “tough message” that “time is running out for Beijing to address a list of economic grievances before the bloc is forced to react”, including around protectionism in the electric vehicles industry.

The global average temperature for the first 11 months of the year has hit a record high of 1.46C above the 1850-1900 average, Reuters reports, citing new figures from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). As a result, 2023 is expected to be the warmest year on record, the newswire says. It continues: “November 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22C, 0.85C above the 1991-2020 average for November and 0.32C above the previous warmest November, in 2020, Copernicus added.” Outlets including MailOnline, Al Jazeera, France24 and the Hill also carry the news. The findings confirm analysis published by Carbon Brief in October.

The Washington Post has published an editorial outlining a “realistic path to protecting the Amazon rainforest”. It says that the government needs to enforce regulations on land use to make deforestation “less lucrative”, saying that “punishing rule-breakers, bolstering the ranks of enforcement officers, setting guidelines for sustainable development and conditioning credit on compliance could all move the needle”. It adds that people also need to be offered incentives for conservation.

Elsewhere, the Financial Times opinion Lex column says that record US oil production coupled with low prices are a “troubling combination”. Meanwhile, columnist Javier Blas has penned a comment piece in Bloomberg, rebutting US climate envoy John Kerry’s assertion that oil and gas companies “ought to be leading the charge” in the clean-energy transition. Blas says that “expecting fossil-fuel companies to disrupt their own industry is foolish and counterproductive”. He concludes: “Energy and climate policymakers don’t need to worry about Big Oil. Let it retrench to do what it does best: providing plentiful supply while demand is still there. Put the focus, however, on cleaning up that supply. In the meantime, its dividends to shareholders can provide the cash to finance green investments. Leave innovating to the innovators.”

Journalist and writer Diyora Shadijanova has penned a comment piece in the Guardian saying that “across western states, abandoning long-held climate commitments is becoming the norm for rightwing parties”. Shadijanova lists right-wing political parties who want to roll back green measures, including Geert Wilders’ Freedom party which recently gained the most seats in the Netherlands election. She says that “progress is slipping” in the UK, adding: “Sunak’s major U-turn on the government’s climate commitments signified a new shift within the Conservative party: delayed timelines. No longer is this government just not doing enough in terms of policy; it’s now actively choosing to defer deadlines set by previous governments.” She continues: “This move is also ideological and shifts the UK further to the right, in tandem with many of its western counterparts.” In other comment, US  journalist Dave Keating writes in Energy Monitor that “Germany’s COP28 message is undermined by its domestic climate action crisis”. He says: “A constitutional court ruling scrapping the country’s climate budget and a teetering coalition government has put Germany’s climate commitment in doubt as an increasingly powerful right-wing promises to backtrack on climate legislation if elected.”

Elsewhere, Peter Irvine, a lecturer in earth sciences at University College London, writes in the Conversation that “dimming the Sun would be an effective tool in the fight against climate change”. Irvine argues that “it’s becoming increasingly clear that we will fail to meet our climate goals” and says that we need to “consider something radically new”. He says that we could dim the sun using a “persistent, artificial haze like those seen following major volcanic eruptions”. He notes the side effects, including altering global wind and rainfall patterns, but says these side effects “pale in comparison to the impacts of climate change”. Separately, two authors of a new report on global tipping points have a piece in the Conversation unpacking their findings. They say: “Ambitious new governance approaches are needed. Our report recommends international bodies like the UN’s climate talks urgently start taking tipping points into account. Their understanding of dangerous climate change needs a serious update.” (See Carbon Brief’s in-depth coverage of the report.)

Mangroves that have been degraded by extreme weather events can leave behind “ghost forests”, which are then colonised by sea grasses, according to new research. A study of six locations within mangrove ghost forests in Queensland, Australia, examined the environmental conditions that result when a mangrove forest dies. As the root systems degrade, the sediment sinks and seagrasses colonise the newly inundated land. Any remaining root systems aboveground may also attenuate waves, creating a stable environment for the seagrass to grow.  Overall, the results suggest that “degraded mangroves may transition to seagrass under future sea level rise scenarios”.