By Harjeet Singh,Global Engagement Director at the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative
The outcomes of COP29 are a betrayal of the urgent needs of both people and the planet.
Climate justice movements and civil society have unequivocally rejected these measures, exposing the alarming inadequacy of the global response to the escalating climate crisis.
The Global North, which continues to expand fossil fuel extraction and bears historical responsibility for the majority of environmental degradation and carbon emissions, has once again failed to make meaningful climate finance commitments.
The financial promises fall woefully short—offering false hope rather than the new and additional resources, estimated in trillions annually, that are required.
This critical moment in history demands robust international cooperation and meaningful support.
The necessity of a Fossil Fuel Treaty, operating alongside the Paris Agreement, has never been clearer.
Such a treaty would serve as a vital mechanism to hold developed nations accountable, ensuring they phase out oil, gas, and coal first and fastest while providing the financial and technical support that developing nations need.
These countries, often reliant on fossil fuels for revenue, employment, and energy, must be empowered to transition towards clean, renewable energy systems in a just and equitable manner.
A growing global consensus underscores the urgency of such a treaty. Supported by a diverse coalition of cities, sub-national governments, parliamentarians,
Nobel laureates, youth activists, financial institutions, and leaders across faith and health sectors, this movement is gathering momentum.
As we approach 2025, we call on you to join this movement advocating for a Fossil Fuel Treaty that would establish the frameworks necessary to ensure fairness and equity in the global transition away from fossil fuels, particularly for the countries and communities most in need.
Despite the setbacks of COP29, our collective future hinges on the choices we make today and our unwavering commitment to climate justice.
In the same period, leaders of the G20 nations meeting in Rio issued a communiqué that fails to make a stronger mention of fossil fuels.
Despite recognising the outcome of last year’s COP28 in Dubai, which commits countries to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ among other things, this intentionally vague and buried reference obfuscates the action that’s really needed by avoiding any specific obligations around fossil fuel phase out or a just transition.
This weak statement falls short of a strong outcome expected from the group that has given more than $1.4 trillion in support to the coal, oil and gas industry in 2022 alone.
The omission of further commitments to phase out fossil fuels and a strong signal on finance for climate action, which is critical to underpin a global, just energy transition, is particularly concerning in the context of COP29 being held this week in Baku, Azerbaijan, where nations’ biggest focus is to negotiate the new global goal on climate finance, and where the Dubai agreement is expected to be upheld, especially by wealthy nations.
In my view, world leaders at the G20 Summit displayed a stark failure in leadership, neglecting to reaffirm their commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels—a critical pivot for global climate action.
Their rehashed rhetoric offers no solace for the fraught COP29 negotiations, where we continue to see a deadlock on climate finance.
Developed nations who have significant historical emissions and planned fossil fuel expansion, remain unmoved, failing to quantify the trillions needed or to ensure these funds are provided as grants—essential for achieving climate justice.
Without decisive progress on finance at COP29, we are steering towards a catastrophic temperature scenario, where the most vulnerable will bear the gravest consequences.
However, this week,Freetown became the second African capital to back the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, joining cities on every continent that are demanding a global just transition away from fossil fuels to an equitable renewable-powered future.
Sierra Leone’s capital now joins over 120 cities and subnational governments that have formally endorsed the Fossil Fuel Treaty proposal.
After implementing its first climate action strategy and appointing Africa’s first heat officer to address its high climate vulnerability, Freetown has reaffirmed its climate leadership by becoming the second major African city to join the call for a Fossil Fuel Treaty, a new legal mechanism that would enable a fair phase out of fossil fuels, with the wealthiest countries leading the way, and facilitate finance and technology transfers for an equitable energy transition, economic diversification and alternative development pathways.
“While COP28 was a crucial step in acknowledging the necessity of transitioning away from fossil fuels, this decision was not reaffirmed at COP29. We find ourselves at a crossroads: one path leads to the preservation of humanity, while the other leads to its annihilation. It is imperative that we take bold and decisive action like the Fossil Fuel Treaty to end our dependence on fossil fuels and harness our unbridled renewable energy potential. African cities can play a key role in this fight since our urban centres are not just hubs of economic activity; they are also epicentres of innovation. Together, we can have a global impact, and Freetown stands ready to inspire and collaborate with cities across the African continent and beyond to build a just transition away from deadly fossil fuels to a prosperous renewable future,”the Mayor of Freetown and C40 Cities Co-Chair Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said.
The push for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is spearheaded by a bloc of fourteen Global South nations – including two fossil fuel producers – from the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.
The global network behind the proposal is now formed by 120 cities and subnational governments including Sydney, Kolkata, Lima, Vancouver, Belém, London, Warsaw, Lilongwe, and the State of California, over 3500 organisations and institutions including the European Parliament, 3000+ scientists and academics, 101 Nobel laureates, the World Health Organisation and hundreds of health professionals, a Vatican Cardinal and thousands of religious institutions, 10 Amazonian Indigenous nations, thousands of youth activists, more than 800 Parliamentarians across the world and hundreds of trade unions representing over 30 million workers in more than 150 countries.
