United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said the UAE had emerged stronger from the conflict, despite efforts to avoid escalation.

“The UAE emerged victorious from a war we sincerely sought to avoid,” Gargash wrote on X, adding that the country was better positioned to navigate regional complexities and influence future developments.

In Oman, officials stressed the importance of mediation and sustained engagement, with the foreign minister pledging support for initiatives aimed at achieving “strong and enduring regional security.”

Omani authorities urged Washington and Tehran to pursue serious negotiations to secure a durable peace.Saudi Arabia also backed diplomatic efforts, with its foreign ministry emphasizing the need for an agreement that addresses underlying causes of instability and long-term threats to regional security.

The responses highlight a broader regional push to consolidate the ceasefire into a lasting settlement, amid concerns over the potential for renewed tensions and the wider impact on Middle East stability.

Speaking to reporters, Zelensky said the messages followed a sharp escalation in global energy prices linked to widening conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted supplies of oil, gas and refined products. He said Kyiv remained open to an Easter ceasefire under reciprocal conditions.

Signals tied to energy market pressuresA source familiar with the matter said U.S. officials had conveyed the concerns during routine contacts with Ukrainian counterparts, adding that the initial signals appeared to have originated from Moscow.

The US State Department and Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Ukraine has intensified strikes on Russian oil facilities in recent months as part of its broader strategy to undermine revenues supporting Moscow’s military campaign.

The reported outreach from allies reflects concern that such attacks could further tighten global supply at a time of already elevated prices.Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left the country facing acute shortages, forcing authorities to secure alternative supplies.

Zelensky said Kyiv had reached agreements with several Middle Eastern countries to bolster energy support following a recent regional visit.He said Ukraine had secured a deal for year-long diesel deliveries, critical for both military operations and the agricultural sector, though he did not disclose volumes or suppliers.

Ukraine also signed framework cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and indicated another agreement was being prepared with the United Arab Emirates.

Zelensky said he had also discussed air defense needs with regional leaders, but noted that partners were currently prioritizing deployments to the Middle East due to ongoing hostilities involving Iran.

He added that Ukraine risked being sidelined in the allocation of advanced anti-ballistic missile systems as international focus shifts toward the escalating regional conflict.

The government praised the efforts of the Iraqi negotiators who it said were able to preserve the role of fossil fuels as a tool for development and prevented the adoption of texts sought by some developed countries which are “harmful to the interests of our peoples”.

The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a powerful signal to investors and policy-makers that the world is united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists say is the last best hope to stave off climate catastrophe.

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber called the deal “historic” but added that its true success would be in its implementation.

“We are what we do, not what we say,” he told the crowded plenary at the summit. “We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions.”

Several countries cheered the deal for accomplishing something elusive in decades of climate talks.

“It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels,” said Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the COP28 agreement to “phase out” oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group OPEC, which argued that the world can slash emissions without shunning specific fuels.

That battle pushed the summit a full day into overtime on Wednesday, and had some observers worried the negotiations would end at an impasse.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries control nearly 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves along with about a third of global oil output, and their governments rely heavily on those revenues.

Small climate-vulnerable island states, meanwhile, were among the most vocal supporters of language to phase out fossil fuels and had the backing of huge oil and gas producers such as the United States, Canada and Norway, along with the EU bloc and scores of other governments.

“This is a moment where multilateralism has actually come together and people have taken individual interests and attempted to define the common good,” U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said after the deal was adopted.

The lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, Anne Rasmussen, criticised the deal as unambitious.

“We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual, when what we really need is an exponential step change in our actions,” she said.

But she did not formally object to the pact, and her speech drew a standing ovation.

Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Dan Jorgensen marveled at the circumstances of the deal: “We’re standing here in an oil country, surrounded by oil countries, and we made the decision saying let’s move away from oil and gas.”

Emissions Reduction

The deal calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner … so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”

It also calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, speeding up efforts to reduce coal use, and accelerating technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.

A representative for Saudi Arabia welcomed the deal, saying it would help the world limit global warming to the targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times set in the 2015 Paris deal, but repeated the oil producer’s stance that tackling climate change was about reducing emissions.

“We must use every opportunity to reduce emissions regardless of the source,” he said.

Several other oil producer countries, including the summit host UAE, had advocated for a role for carbon capture in the pact. Critics say the technology remains expensive and unproven at scale, and argue it is a false flag to justify continued drilling.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore also welcomed the deal, but said: “The influence of petrostates is still evident in the half measures and loopholes included in the final agreement.”

Now that the deal is struck, countries are responsible for delivering through national policies and investments.

In the United States, the world’s top producer of oil and gas and the top historical emitter of greenhouse gases, climate-conscious administrations have struggled to pass laws aligned with their climate vows through a divided Congress.

U.S. President Joe Biden scored a major victory on that front last year with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contained hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy subsidies.

Mounting public support for renewables and electric vehicles from Brussels to Beijing in recent years, along with improving technology, sliding costs, and rising private investment have also driven rapid growth in their deployments.

Even so, oil, gas, and coal still account for about 80% of the world’s energy, and projections vary widely about when global demand will finally hit its peak.

Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, praised the climate deal, but noted that it does not commit rich countries to offer more financing to help developing countries pay for the transition away from fossil fuels.

“The finance and equity provisions… are seriously insufficient and must be improved in the time ahead in order to ensure low- and middle-income countries can transition to clean energy and close the energy poverty gap,” she said.

For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here

Africa’s number 2 copper producer Zambia last month picked IRH, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s most valuable listed company International Holding Company (IHC.AD) (IHC), as the new strategic equity partner in the state-owned Mopani Copper Mine.

IRH, which was not immediately available for comment, is actively pursuing the acquisition of metal assets including copper, nickel, graphite, manganese, cobalt and lithium which are essential to the UAE’s clean green energy drive.

Jubilee, which mainly focuses on recovering metals from mineral waste, said it had secured IRH’s investment to process an estimated 350 million metric tons of copper waste rock, which could potentially yield “in excess of 20,000 tons per annum of copper at a cost of below $4,000 per tonne of copper”.

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Jubilee said it had agreed with IRH to form a dedicated special purpose vehicle through which both the acquisition of the copper waste rock and implementation of the processing solution will be funded, at an estimated cost of $50 million.

“Under the funding term sheet IRH undertakes to provide all capital required by the special purpose vehicle through a combination of equity in the special purpose vehicle and shareholder loans,” Jubilee said in a statement.

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The construction and commissioning of the copper retreatment works would be completed within a 12 month period, Jubilee said, with work expected to start in the first quarter of 2024.

Jubilee will design, implement and operate the mining and processing project on behalf of the joint venture, it added.

The news agency said Sudan’s foreign ministry summoned the acting UAE Chargé d’affaires and informed her of the decision. No further details were given.

Late last month, a top Sudanese general said the UAE had been sending supplies to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the powerful paramilitary force at war with the army.

In response, a UAE official said that from the outset of the war, the UAE had “consistently called for de-escalation, a ceasefire, and the initiation of diplomatic dialogue” in Sudan.

The war began in mid-April. It has displaced more than 6.5 million people and triggered waves of ethnically driven killings in Darfur that have been blamed on the RSF and allied Arab militias.

The RSF has denied carrying out ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Negotiators and observers at the annual U.N. climate talks, pursuing a deal to tackle the worst impacts of climate change, said several OPEC members appeared to have heeded calls by the oil producer group to veto any deal to phase out fossil fuels.

In a letter dated Wednesday, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais called on members to reject language targeting fossil fuels, saying “the undue and disproportionate pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences”.

Al Ghais declined to comment on the letter but said OPEC wanted to keep the focus of the talks on reducing emissions, as opposed to picking energy sources.

“The world requires major investments in all energies, including hydrocarbons,” he said. “Energy transitions must be just, fair and inclusive.”

At least 80 countries are demanding a COP28 deal that calls for an eventual end to fossil fuel use, the top source of planet-warming emissions, to try to get on track to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But they face a struggle to persuade countries that rely on oil and gas for revenue, many of which are instead promoting technologies like carbon capture, which is expensive and has yet to be proven at scale.

Tina Stege, climate envoy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands – one of the places worst affected by climate change, said any pushback on including a phase-out of fossil fuels risked the world’s prosperity.

“Nothing puts the prosperity and future of all people on earth, including all of the citizens of OPEC countries, at greater risk than fossil fuels,” said Stege, whose country chairs the High Ambition Coalition, a group of nations pushing for more ambitious emissions targets and policies.

“This is why the High Ambition Coalition is pushing for a phase out of fossil fuels, which are at the root of this crisis. 1.5 is not negotiable, and that means an end to fossil fuels,” she said in a statement.

Critical Stage’

After a week of technical talks, the negotiations now have ministerial input before the scheduled end of the summit on Tuesday – the last phase when countries wrestle to find consensus over the wording regarding fossil fuels.

The latest version of the negotiating text includes a range of options – from agreeing to a “phase out of fossil fuels in line with best available science”, to phasing out “unabated fossil fuels”, to including no language on them at all.

Germany’s state secretary and special envoy for climate action, Jennifer Morgan, said counties were now “moving into the critical stage of negotiations”.

“It is time for all countries to remember what is at stake and to be ready to send the signal the world needs at this critical moment of the global climate crisis. I am concerned that not all are constructively engaging.”

Asked about the OPEC letter, COP28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi avoided the term “fossil fuels” but said the United Arab Emirates, as president of the summit, wanted a deal to get the world on track for 1.5 degrees.

“Our COP president has been very clear from day one that he wants to achieve an outcome that puts us clearly on track for 1.5 degrees,” he told a news conference. “He clearly wants to see an outcome that is as ambitious as possible and we believe we are going to deliver it.”

Negotiators have a tough job ahead.

Wael Aboulmagd, special representative to the COP27 Egyptian presidency, said there were too many options in the text on fossil fuels, adding there was also deadlock in talks on measures to help nations adapt to extreme weather and other climate change impacts.

“We still have some serious issues with adaptation. We are still way behind on that.”

To be adopted, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent members – the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain. The U.S. has said it does not support any further action by the council at this time.

The renewed push for a ceasefire was made by Arab states after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the Security Council of a global threat from the war. Guterres, who has repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire, is due to brief the council on Friday.

The United States and ally Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses to protect civilians and allow for the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The U.S. offered substantial amendments to the brief UAE-drafted text, including a condemnation of “the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel, including those on 7 October 2023.” It was not added to the text to be voted on Friday.

The draft was amended to say both “the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law” and to “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 people taken hostage during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Israel has focused its retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, bombarding it from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground assault.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says that so far 17,170 people have been killed in the enclave of 2.3 million.

The United States abstained last month to allow the Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for pauses in fighting. A seven-day pause – that saw Hamas release some hostages and an increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza – expired on Dec. 1.

The groups, led by Friends of the Earth, released a letter to Biden at the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where dozens of nations are pushing for a global agreement to phase out use of CO2-emitting fossil fuels like LNG.

LNG is natural gas used for heating and electricity that has been cooled to a liquid state for shipping and storage. Climate activists advocate for phasing out fossil fuels like LNG and replacing them with renewable sources like wind and solar.

The letter demands that the administration stop permitting new LNG facilities and cease financial and diplomatic support for the industry.

The Biden administration has approved five U.S. LNG export licenses to serve the European market following Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, having approved none beforehand.

The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, with most of those shipments going to Europe as it seeks to wean itself from a reliance on Russian gas. Carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. LNG facilities have soared 81% since 2019, according to government data.

“Any push for a phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP28 risks falling flat if the world’s leading LNG exporter shows no signs of changing course,” the letter said. “We urge the Biden administration to publicly commit during COP to no further regulatory, financial, or diplomatic support for LNG in the United States or anywhere in the world.”

Ahead of next November’s U.S. presidential election, Biden will have to consider how approvals for fossil fuel projects could alienate environmentally minded voters who are part of his base.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. LNG exports averaged a record 11.6 billion cubic feet per day during the first half of 2023, up 4% from the first half of last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. In November, about 68% of U.S. LNG was exported to Europe, according to LSEG.

In a speech late on Wednesday, Jaber praised delegates from nearly 200 countries for the agreement on the opening day of the two-week summit on a “loss and damage” fund to aid countries stricken by climate-driven disasters.

Countries, businesses and philanthropies have since pledged to mobilise $83 billion in climate finance, which “can only raise the bar higher”, Jaber told the delegates.

“What we have collectively accomplished only in a week is, in my view, nothing short of being historic,” he said. “In just seven days we have demonstrated that multilateralism does actually work, it is alive and well.”

While the summit venue was quiet on Thursday, with negotiations officially paused for a scheduled “day of rest”, delegates were working toward a final COP28 agreement by the conference’s scheduled Dec. 12 close.

When the summit resumes on Friday, countries will start to tackle the finer details and Jaber is expected to outline his work plan for the second week, including a goal to close on schedule.

That would be a feat U.N. climate talks have not achieved since COP9, 20 years ago in Milan.

Eight of the last 10 COP meetings have stretched into overtime by at least 24 hours, according to Carbon Brief news and data website – including last year’s COP27 in Egypt and the previous COP26 in Glasgow.

In the final stretch of COP28, negotiations focus on some of this year’s toughest issues.

Global Stocktake

For the first time, countries are undertaking the mammoth task of assessing their climate progress so far and what remains to be done.

Known as the “global stocktake,” the work is expected to yield a blueprint for future policy action by governments to try to prevent climate change from escalating to extremes.

Draft texts so far show numerous options for national climate plans to take up, meaning ministers must address a lack of consensus.

“They still have a lot to accomplish to provide the political signals that will course correct towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and keeping 1.5 degrees within reach,” said observer Kiryssa Kasprzyk, climate policy director at Conservation International.

Saudi Arabia

Some delegates have said that oil-producer Saudi Arabia has held up negotiations in different work streams by pressing for the removal of any mention of a phasing down of fossil fuels.

Colombia’s Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told Reuters that her country has asked for a high-level meeting with the Saudi delegation, after Colombian delegates witnessed the Saudis blocking text in negotiating rooms.

Saudi Arabia “is trying to keep things status quo, you know, more of an attitude,” she said. “But the reality is that we can’t do that” given the climate-fueled weather extremes and disasters occuring around the world.

Phase Down? Phase Out?

The 27-member European Union, Chile and others want the final COP28 deal to include a clear call to phase out fossil fuel use – without including language that might enable countries to heavily rely on carbon capture and removal for that goal.

Chile’s Environment Minister Maisa Rojas – herself, a climate scientist – urged her counterparts from other countries to not postpone the issue to a future year.

“It is absolutely necessary,” Rojas told Reuters of a phase out. “We have known this for a long time.”

To get round objections from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries whose economies rely on oil and gas, negotiators are looking for alternative wording to signal a shift from fossil fuels through the 2030s.

The “phase down/phase out” language has become a flashpoint for countries that produce oil, gas or coal.

Trinidad and Tobago for the Alliance of Small Island States, known as AOSIS, suggested the language: “phasing out of fossil fuels in line with the best available science and IPCC pathways and principles and provisions of the Paris agreement,” an observer of the negotiations said.

The United States and China managed to avoid the terms altogether, agreeing in their November bilateral in Sunnylands, California – to triple renewable energy deployment to “accelerate the substitution for coal, oil and gas generation” and “meaningful absolute power sector emission reduction, in this critical decade of the 2020s”.

“I expect we’ll see some creative wordplay,” Catherine Abreu, founder of NGO Destination Zero, said.

Climate Finance And Adaptation

Since the deal for the disaster fund was adopted on Nov. 30, Jaber said countries have mobilised over $726 million to capitalise it, and he expected to get more into the fund by the end of this year’s COP.

Progress on climate adapatation has stalled, however, with ministers needing to resolve a stalemate over wealthy versus poor country obligations to pay into the fund.

They will also need to address how to boost climate finance.

The pledges made at COP28 are still far short of the hundreds of millions that will be needed each year to help developing countries adapt to the conditions of a warming world – including sea level rise and increasingly dangerous heat.

Developing nations also need billions, if not trillions of dollars in annual finance to shift to cleaner energy.

“The finance piece is particularly important because developing countries are understandably hesitant to be burdened with global targets that they can’t afford to carry out,” said Teresa Anderson, who leads climate justice work at the global nonprofit ActionAid International.