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Marshall Islands drop fossil fuels as focus of UN climate change motion

The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a motion Tuesday on climate change, human rights and the Marshall Islands retracted a divisive amendement that asked states to commit to a phased-out fossil fuels.

The motion calling for countries to "contribute to global efforts" to combat climate change was passed by consensus. This follows the 2021 council recognition of access to a healthy and clean environment as a right.

The original language had revealed divisions amongst the 47 members, after the Marshall Islands, which is one of the most vulnerable countries to rising sea levels and has made an amendment to it to mention the exiting of fossil fuels, as agreed by the states at the COP28 Climate summit in December 2023.

Doreen Debrum, Marshall Islands ambassador to the U.N. at Geneva, said to the council: "My country, like many of its Pacific neighbours, places a premium on collaboration and dialogue. We were willing to acknowledge this by withdrawing the amendment."

The motion instead referred to the "imperative of defossilizing economies" in a note, allowing it to pass without a vote whose outcome was not certain.

The decisions of the council are not legally enforceable, but they help to shape global standards.

Three diplomats claim that oil producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (a voting member), had previously voiced their opposition to this phrasing during negotiations. Riyadh instead called for "multiple paths" to reduce emission.

Kuwait's foreign ministry or Saudi Arabia's international press offices did not respond to requests for comment. The diplomatic missions of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in Geneva failed to respond immediately.

Sebastien duyck, the human rights and climate campaigner at the Center for International Environmental Law said: "We regret the council's continued failure to call for an equitable phase out of fossil fuels - the root cause for the crisis."

Campaigners have accused leaders in climate action such as the European Union of scaling back their policies while dealing with the effects of an early summer heatwave.

After disengaging from the Council this year, the U.S. did not take part in the formal vote. (Reporting and editing by Alison Williams; Emma Farge)

(source: Reuters)