GOVERNMENTS moved closer to a watered-down final deal today, avoiding calls from more than 100 nations to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels, as the United Nations Cop28 climate talks in Dubai neared their culmination.

A new draft issued this afternoon on the global stocktake — the summit’s assessment of where the world is with its climate goals and how it can reach them — called for countries to reduce “consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”

Its publication sparked a frenzy of fine-tuning by government envoys and sharp analysis by advocacy groups just hours before today’s planned late-morning finish to the talks — though many observers expect business to run over time, as is common at the annual summit.

Activists said the text came from the Cop28 presidency, run by an Emirati oil company chief, and pounced on its shortcomings. 

It called for “phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption” but fell far short of a concerted push to phase out fossil fuels altogether.

Andreas Sieber, a climate activists with 350.org, said: “What we have seen now is our fears come true.”

The text “is extremely disappointing, concerning, and nowhere close to the level of ambition people around the world deserve,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director and a lead economist for the climate and energy programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

John Silk, head of delegation for the at-risk Marshall Islands, said: “[We] did not come here to sign our death warrant. We came here to fight for 1.5 [°C] and for the only way to achieve that: a fossil fuel phase-out. 

“What we have seen today is unacceptable. We will not go silently to our watery graves. We will not accept an outcome that will lead to devastation for our country and for millions, if not billions, of the most vulnerable people and communities.”

Pacific climate campaigner Joseph Sikulu said: “We know that on the inside of the negotiations, the high-exploiting countries like the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, are the ones who are blocking on the phase-out of fossil fuels.

“We need them to step aside ... so that we can get the results that are needed from these negotiations.”