“The shift toward a climate neutral economy will require the global phase-out of [unabated] fossil fuels and a peak in their consumption already in the near term,” a draft of the EU’s negotiating stance, seen by Reuters, said.
“Unabated” refers to fossil fuels burned without using technologies to capture the resulting CO2 emissions. The word was in brackets in the draft EU text, indicating that countries have not yet agreed on whether to include it. The EU document, which is still being negotiated and could change before it is due to be finalized in October, said the energy sector should be largely free of fossil fuels “well ahead of 2050” because cost-effective, CO2-free energy sources are already available.
Some countries with fossil fuel-heavy economies want to focus on developing technologies to capture CO2 emissions, rather than reducing the use of fossil fuels. Disagreement over this issue meant G20 countries’ ministers could not agree to curb fossil fuels at a meeting last month.