Participants at the UN climate conference in the United Arab Emirates, COP28, are reacting to a global agreement to transition away from the use of fossil fuels, a key intervention to slow down climate change.

The conference held in Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, brought together government representatives as well as youth and indigenous groups, the private sector, civil society and a wide range of climate activists.

Participants came from across the world to discuss a wide range of issues affected by climate change, but also what solutions they could bring.

The overarching challenge was to come up with an ambitious agreement to get the world back on track towards limiting global temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Some 70,000 people attended over the almost two-week-long conference including many people from indigenous groups from countries that are most affected by climate change.

One of the key tasks was to agree how to phase out the environmentally damaging fossil fuels which are driving climate change. Protestors made their views known, throughout the conference. 

The conference united on a pledge to deliver a loss and damage fund to compensate especially developing countries which are suffering the worst affects of climate change but which have the least responsibility for causing it.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told negotiators “who opposed a clear reference to a phase-out of fossil fuels”  that the phase-out was inevitable, “whether they like it or not.”

The deal to “transition away from fossil fuels” as opposed to phasing them out was welcomed by many, but some believed it did not go far enough. One representative from the Pacific Ocean archipelago, the Marshall islands, was pictured in tears over the deal.

COP28 ended on Wednesday, a day later than planned, due to the intense negotiations required to reach the deal. The 29th Conference of the Parties is due to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan in late 2024.