The small Pacific island nation, which is acutely vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by global warming, becomes the second country to call for a deal to end the era of burning fossil fuels, which is the main cause of the rapidly escalating climate crisis, colleague The Pacific nation of Vanuatu is the first. Tuvalu made the call on Tuesday at the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt. Climate campaigners welcomed the move but condemned major polluters such as the US and China for ensuring fossil fuels have been largely shielded from previous iterations of climate talks. Last year, at Cop26 in Scotland, countries pledged for the first time to “phase out” the use of coal, although the use of natural gas and oil was not mentioned. Kausea Natano, Tuvalu’s prime minister, said that “warming seas have begun to swallow our lands, inch by inch. But the world’s addiction to oil, gas and coal cannot sink our dreams beneath the waves. “Therefore, we join a hundred Nobel Peace Prize winners and thousands of scientists around the world in urging world leaders to join the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to manage a just transition away from fossil fuels.” “Countries like Tuvalu are on the front lines, they know they can’t just give in to the vested interests of fossil fuel companies,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global policy strategy at Climate Action Network International. “We know who the victims of the climate crisis are and we know who the perpetrators are, but we never discuss fossil fuels, the elephant in the room.” Singh said a fossil fuel treaty that would limit new exploitation of reserves and shift fairly to renewable energy has so far been overlooked “by design” because of the reliance of many powerful countries on finding and burning fossil fuels. The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Cop27’s agenda includes discussion of future remedial payments from rich countries to developing countries that bear the brunt of extreme weather in the form of floods, fires, droughts and other climate impacts. But the idea of an explicit deal to limit the use of fossil fuels is not a priority for governments in Sharm el-Sheikh, despite the International Energy Agency warning that no new coal, oil or gas infrastructure can be built if the world wants to avoid global warming disasters. While no major broadcaster is backing the call for a new treaty, the idea has been backed by the Vatican, the World Health Organization and a selection of city mayors, including Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London. Activists hope that support from Pacific nations will help create a similar kind of momentum to that which has taken ideas such as keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels from a fringe idea to a widely accepted one. target.
