My heart is heavy my friends. As I write this on Wednesday December 13, COP28 is wrapping up without language in the global stocktake (GST) text about an equitable phase out of fossil fuels. Instead we have a call for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” Better than nothing and not enough for the text is full of loopholes and false solutions.
We all feared as much – the Presidency, Sultan Al Jaber, stated publicly that there is “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, despite the very clear science. At least 2,400 fossil fuel representatives and lobbyists were in attendance and influencing negotiations. More fossil fuel-affiliated delegates were registered than all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined, according to an analysis by the Kick Big Polluters out Coalition. 475 Carbon capture and storage industry lobbyists were also in attendance; advocating for untested technologies that climate scientists say will not slow global warming. Al Gore tweeted after reviewing the first final draft that the document is “of the Petrostates, by the Petrostates, and for the Petrostates.”
“We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step-change in our actions and support” the Alliance of Small Island States reported in response to the final GST document.
As climate justice advocates, youth and civil society cried out for a phase out of fossil fuels, they lifted their voices to also demand a ceasefire in Gaza and a stop to the genocide unfolding in front of our eyes. Never again means never again for anyone. Climate justice is racial justice is gender justice is human rights work and land back. We cannot stand on the side of frontline communities if we do not also stand on the side of the Palestinian people. War is as profitable as the extraction, production, and sale of fossil fuels and it contributes to the climate crisis.
If we aspire for a just transition we must put people, and all life really, before profits.
In the midst of my despair yesterday, a coworker shared this much appreciated meme with the team (Originally posted on Instagram by @wangamiro):
This week, in the northern hemisphere, we celebrate the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. The darkness of winter is an invitation to be in reflection and contemplation, to share stories and learnings gathered in the previous seasons. As we enter that space let’s be mindfuprl of our legacies of resilience and resistance – the incremental progress made at the COPs each year is because of the voices of Climate Justice activists and civil society. Let us plan our next actions; let us build solidarity. Let us rewrite the rules and prioritize those most impacted. Let us act locally for a global impact. We matter and we must continue to persevere to build the world we envision, a just and abundant world for all, beyond the climate crisis.
Susan Phillips
Executive Director
The post People Before Profits NOW appeared first on Climate Generation.
Today, Greenpeace activists disrupted Woodside’s Annual General Meeting, its biggest corporate event of the year, to put the dirty gas corporation’s disastrous plans to drill at Scott Reef front and centre.
While a community rallied outside the shareholder meeting, Greenpeace activists brought the protest inside.
Together, a clear message was sent to Woodside’s executives: keep your hands off Scott Reef.
Inside, a choir of activists performed a ‘Save Scott Reef’ rendition of Angie McMahon’s cover of ‘Reckless’ – a plea to Woodside’s executives, including new CEO Liz Westcott, and shareholders to abandon their reckless plans to drill for dirty gas on the doorstep of a pristine ocean ecosystem.
Several activists were escorted out of the meeting by security while singing and holding up “Hands off Scott Reef” signs that had been smuggled into the room.
Outside, a powerful community gathered in protest, calling on WA and Federal governments to reject Woodside’s Browse project and put our oceans and climate first.
Why are we doing this?
Woodside’s Browse project involves drilling 57 gas wells underneath and around Scott Reef – a critical habitat for rare marine life including pygmy blue whales, green sea turtles and the dusky sea snake.
Gas would be extracted and transported to the Burrup Hub – the most polluting fossil fuel project in Australia. This proposal would industrialise Australia’s largest freestanding oceanic reef system, threatening the marine life that relies on it and the climate.
This project has already been called “unacceptable” by the WA EPA, and has not yet been approved by either the WA or Federal government.
That means our voices matter, now.
Woodside cannot be trusted with our oceans. Together, we can save Scott Reef.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 24 April 2026: Europe’s energy-crisis plan | Renewables overtake coal | Colombia’s fossil-fuel summit
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Europe’s energy plan
ENERGY CUSHION: On Wednesday, the European Commission set out a package of measures to offset surging energy prices caused by the Iran war, reported Reuters. The draft “actions” include cutting electricity taxes and coordinating the filling of fossil-gas storage this summer, the newswire explained. It added that the package stopped short of “major market interventions”, such as capping gas prices or taxing the windfall profits of energy companies. (Carbon Brief published an interactive table of the 44 actions.)
‘BAD SCENARIO’: The newswire quoted EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen, who said to expect higher gas prices for a “couple of years”, adding: “We really do need to get rid of our dependency on gas as fast as possible. So, for us, this means speeding up more clean energy.” Legal proposals to change tax rules are expected in May, the article said, noting: “Tax changes require unanimous approval from EU countries, making them difficult to pass.”
FLIGHT RISK: The 16-page “AccelerateEU” document also includes plans to coordinate on jet fuel and diesel supplies “to fend off a looming shortage”, said Politico. Jorgensen told Sky News that European summer holidays were “very likely” at risk of “flight cancellations or very, very expensive tickets”. The Financial Times reported that German airline Lufthansa has already “cancelled 20,000 flights between May and October to save fuel”.
Around the world
- RENEWABLES RECORD: Renewable energy overtook coal last year to become the world’s largest source of electricity, according to analysis by thinktank Ember, covered by Carbon Brief.
- ‘PRIORITISE UNITY’: France chose to omit climate change from the agenda of a G7 meeting in Paris this week in order to “avoid a row with the US”, said Agence France-Presse.
- CHINA WARNING: China has pledged to “strictly control” coal use and will grade local authorities on how well they meet the country’s climate goals, according to two new policies covered in a Q&A by Carbon Brief.
- ‘DOUBLE DOWN’: The UK government said it will “move…to break [the] link between gas and electricity prices” in response to the spike in fossil-fuel prices, reported Carbon Brief.
- EXTREME HEAT: A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned that global food systems are being “pushed to the brink” by increasingly common and severe heatwaves on land and at sea, reported the Guardian.
- WHAT’S IN A NAME: In a national vote, Japan selected “kokushobi” – translated as “cruelly hot” – as the new term to describe days that hit 40C, reported BBC News.
£785
The amount that a new electric vehicle is cheaper, on average, than a new petrol car, according to car sales website Autotrader. The Guardian described this as a “significant milestone in Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels”.
Latest climate research
- Climate-driven extremes in temperature and pH put “underwater cultural heritage”, such as shipwrecks in the Taiwan strait, at greater risk of corrosion | Climate Services
- As many as 98% of environmental claims and commitments made by meat and dairy companies over 2021-24 could be categorised as “greenwashing” | PLOS Climate
- Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is “unlikely to generate negative emissions within 150 years” and is “likely to increase electricity costs by ~3.5-fold” | Nature Sustainability
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
With a strong – or even “super” – El Niño event expected to develop later this year, Carbon Brief estimated that 2026 is on track to be the second-warmest year on record. The prediction puts global average temperature in 2026 at between 1.37C and 1.58C above pre-industrial levels, with a best estimate of 1.47C. This means that 2024 is “virtually certain” to be one of the top-four warmest years, but there is still a 19% chance that 2026 will be the warmest year on record – beating the prior record set in 2024.
Spotlight
Countries mull fossil-fuel transition in Colombia
This week, Carbon Brief reports from a first-of-its-kind summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels being held in Santa Marta, Colombia.
Around 60 countries are arriving in Santa Marta, Colombia today where – against a backdrop of white-sand beaches, rolling forested hills and stifling humidity – they will consider ways to move away from fossil fuels.
The first global summit on transitioning away from fossil fuels comes after a large group of nations campaigned for – but, ultimately, failed – to get all countries to formally agree to a “roadmap” away from coal, oil and gas at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil last November.
The nations gathering in Santa Marta for the summit, co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, call themselves the “coalition of the willing”.
Together, they account for one-third of global fossil-fuel demand and one-fifth of global production, according to the Colombian government.
The group includes major oil-and-gas producers such as the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Norway. Some big emitters – such as the US, China and India – are not expected to attend. (There is a question mark over whether China and India were invited.)
Academics to advise
In a departure from COP summits, the six-day event, from 24-29 April, will begin with a “science pre-conference”, where academics from across the world will present and discuss the latest scientific evidence on ways to transition away from fossil fuels.
Ahead of this, countries attending the talks have already been handed a draft scientific report with “action recommendations”, such as “halting all new fossil-fuel expansion” and “reject[ing] gas as a bridging fuel”, as revealed by Carbon Brief.
The report will be further debated and refined by scientists attending the academic segment of the Santa Marta talks, before a final version is made public towards the end of April, Carbon Brief understands.
The science pre-conference will also separately see the launch of a new advisory panel on fossil-fuel transition and a scientifically led roadmap for how Colombia can transition away from fossil fuels, sources tell Carbon Brief.
Alongside the science pre-conference, dialogues will also be held with Indigenous peoples, environmental organisations and other stakeholders.
‘High-level segment’
The science pre-conference will be followed by a “high-level segment” from 28-29 April, where ministers and other policymakers will meet to consider ways to transition away from fossil fuels. (Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro Urrego is expected to speak.)
At the end of the conference, countries are due to release a report featuring a “menu of solutions” for transitioning away from fossil fuels, according to Colombia’s environment minister Irene Vélez Torres.
This report is, in turn, set to inform a global “roadmap” on transitioning away from fossil fuels being developed by the Brazilian COP30 presidency, which is due to be presented at COP31 in Turkey this November.
The Brazilian COP30 presidency offered to bring forward a “voluntary” fossil-fuel transition “roadmap” outside of the official COP process, after countries failed to formally agree to one during negotiations in Belém.
Watch, read, listen
‘SHADOW DOCKET’: The New York Times obtained the “secret memos” behind the US supreme court’s decision in 2016 to block the Obama administration’s clean-power plan.
EGREGIOUS ENGAGEMENT: DeSmog identified multiple social media accounts in Sri Lanka posting AI-generated “energy policy rage bait” to UK Facebook feeds (as first revealed by Carbon Brief’s Leo Hickman).
CHINA ‘DOMINANCE’: A “Bloomberg originals” video looked at the “race to challenge China’s EV lead”.
Coming up
- 24-29 April: First conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels, Santa Marta, Colombia
- 28-29 April: Innovation Zero world congress, London, UK
- 29 April: Stop food waste day
- 6-7 May:GLF Africa 2026: stewarding our rangelands, Nairobi, Kenya
Pick of the jobs
- Natural England, chief executive officer | Salary: circa £130,000. Location: UK
- ETH Zurich, postdoctoral position in climate science | Salary: Unknown. Location: Zurich, Switzerland
- International Energy Agency, partnership manager – clean energy ministerial | Salary: €97,180. Location: Paris, France
- Greenpeace, media diversification press officer | Salary: £48,396-£55,644. Location: London, UK (hybrid)
- Our World In Data, writer | Salary: £80,000-£120,000. Location: Oxford, UK or remote
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 24 April 2026: Europe’s energy-crisis plan | Renewables overtake coal | Colombia’s fossil-fuel summit appeared first on Carbon Brief.
The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly canceled a vote on a bill that would defang the Endangered Species Act.
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