As the COP28 climate summit presents its results to the world, a significant shift in the draft agreement has surfaced, according to the Financial Times. The proposed document, expected to guide climate actions, notably excludes explicit references to fossil fuel phase-out.

This crucial alteration comes as a result of strong opposition from oil and gas-producing nations, particularly spearheaded by Saudi Arabia.

The revised draft delineates a series of actions that countries “could” potentially adopt to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. While it does acknowledge the necessity of reducing fossil fuel consumption and production, it refrains from setting explicit directives mandating a fossil fuel phase-out. This change in language highlights the contentious nature of this issue and the divergence of interests among participating nations.

In particular, the draft, released late Monday, calls for “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels… to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050.” However, it avoids the contentious call for a “phase-out” or “phase-down,” leaving reductions in fossil fuel production optional and conditional upon countries’ actions.

This pivotal element, emphasized by the word “could,” has drawn severe criticism, with Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s environment minister, denouncing the lack of ambition and insufficient climate justice integration, The Guardian reports.

The fate of this draft text looms as a critical outcome in the fraught discussions shaping global climate action. If the language regarding fossil fuels survives the expected resistance from oil-producing countries, it would represent the first UN climate framework asking nations to actively reduce their fossil fuel production.