In a first, delegates at UN climate talks agree to transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Nearly 200 countries agreed Wednesday to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels — the first time they’ve made that crucial pledge in decades of U.N. climate talks though many warned the deal still had significant shortcomings. “This document sends very strong messages to the world.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that “for the first time, the outcome recognizes the need to transition away from fossil fuels.” “The era of fossil fuels must end — and it must end with justice and equity,” he said. United Nations Climate Secretary Simon Stiell told delegates that their efforts were “needed to signal a hard stop to humanity’s core climate problem: fossil fuels and that planet-burning pollution. People stepped up.” U.S. President Joe Biden called it “one significant step closer” to keeping the 1.5 degree goal within reach, but said it depends on countries doing more “to build a safer, more hopeful future for our children.” The deal says that the transition would be done in a way that gets the world to net zero greenhouse gas emissions — where emissions entering the atmosphere are balanced by those removed — in 2050, and carbon pollution to peak by the year 2025, but gives wiggle room to individual nations like China to peak later.