• Nearly 80 Nobel laureates and former leaders protest fossil fuel omission in UN climate draft.
• The group urges UN to include commitments for a “just and equitable” transition away from fossil fuels.
• Failure to address fossil fuels risks undermining global climate action and trust in multilateral efforts.

Nearly 80 Nobel laureates and former world leaders have raised strong objections to the removal of explicit references to fossil fuels in the draft UN climate pact ahead of a crucial summit in New York next month. This exclusion, they argue, threatens to undermine global efforts to combat climate change.

In an open letter, the group expressed their “grave concern” over the omission, emphasizing that fossil fuels are among the greatest threats facing the world today. “We call on the United Nations to ensure that the Pact for the Future includes robust commitments to manage and finance a fast and fair global transition away from coal, oil, and gas extraction in line with the 1.5°C limit agreed to by nations in the Paris Agreement,” they stated.

Former Irish president Mary Robinson, one of the leading voices behind the letter, has been vocal about the need to phase out fossil fuels to limit global warming. Alongside Robinson, Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus and former Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven have also signed the letter, highlighting the urgency of the issue.

The group’s concern stems from the fact that the initial draft of the UN’s Summit of the Future included a commitment to “accelerating” a transition away from fossil fuels. This was in line with the agreement reached by nearly 200 countries at last year’s COP28 conference in Dubai. However, the latest revisions of the text have removed any mention of fossil fuels, instead calling for climate action “on the basis of the best available science.”

Alex Rafalowicz, director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty campaign, warned that the exclusion sends a troubling signal. “It’s extremely concerning that the text doesn’t even contain the language agreed in Dubai last year,” he said, referring to the UAE Consensus, which included commitments to transition away from fossil fuels in a “just, orderly and equitable manner.“

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As the UN prepares for its Summit of the Future, which is described as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to tackle global issues, the omission of fossil fuels from the climate pact has sparked significant concern. The summit will be the last major opportunity for climate discussions before COP29 in Baku this November, making the content of this pact all the more critical.

The UN has yet to respond to these concerns, but the pressure from this influential group of Nobel laureates and former leaders is likely to intensify as the summit approaches.