Time to say ‘the F-words’? A fossil fuel fight takes center stage at the COP28 climate summit
Sultan al-Jaber, president of the UNFCCC COP28 climate conference, speaks during day two of the summit on Dec. 2, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — A fight over the future of fossil fuels has been thrust into the global spotlight at the COP28 climate summit.
For nearly three decades, policymakers representing nearly 200 countries at the U.N.’s annual climate conference have failed to meaningfully address the chief driver of the climate crisis: the burning of coal, oil and gas.
Many gathering in Dubai for COP28 believe the talks can only be considered a success if they result in a deal to “phase out” all fossil fuels.
The language of the final agreement, expected by or around Dec. 12, will be closely monitored. A “phase out” commitment would likely require a shift away from fossil fuels until their use is eliminated, while a “phase down” could indicate a reduction in their use — but not an absolute end.
The outcome of COP28 must be that all the oil, gas and coal nations of the world see that now we are truly at the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era for the world economy.
Johan Rockstrom
Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
There’s also a debate about whether an agreement should center on “abated” fossil fuels, which are trapped and stocked with carbon capture and storage technologies. “Unabated” fossil fuels are largely understood to be produced and used without substantial reductions in the amount of emitted greenhouse gases.
Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the world’s most influential Earth scientists, told CNBC that there is no doubt that COP28 “has to be the mitigation COP.”
“The outcome of COP28 must be that all the oil, gas and coal nations of the world see that now we are truly at the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era for the world economy. And that we are now starting to bend the curve, properly,” he said.
“It is only that that will count whether COP28 is a success,” he continued. “Everything else will follow. So, of course, it is good to make progress on loss and damage, Article 6, financing, adaptation, nature, agriculture and water, but it is all following from whether or not we make progress on the fossil fuel phase-out.”
A draft text published in the early hours of Friday appeared to raise the prospect that world leaders could sign off on a deal that would “phase out” all fossil fuels. Other scenarios, however, include the option to “phase down” hydrocarbons, to only focus on coal — or to make no mention of fossil fuels whatsoever.
In this aerial view water vapour and exhaust rise from the steel mill of Salzgitter AG, one Europe’s largest steel producers, on November 22, 2023 in Salzgitter, Germany.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Not everyone is on board with calls for a phase-out. Russia has said it would oppose this language being used in the final agreement, while COP28 host the United Arab Emirates has signaled its preference for a phase-down.
Big Oil, too, is pushing for a shift of focus away from calls to phase out fossil fuels. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods told CNBC on Saturday that society should instead prioritize reducing emissions, which he described as the “true problem.”
‘This year is different’
In an unprecedented start to proceedings on Thursday, delegates at COP28 sealed the details of a landmark deal to help the world’s most vulnerable countries pay for the impacts of climate disasters.
The operationalization of the so-called loss and damage fund was hailed as a welcome breakthrough and helps to clear the way for policymakers to negotiate on other major issues.
“Now we don’t have an agenda fight [and] we don’t have a loss and damage fight, it opens up a space for us to have a big fossil fuel fight,” said Catherine Abreu, founder of the Destination Zero network of nonprofits working on climate issues. “[It is] important to say that more fossil fuels equal more loss and damage, so these two issues are actually quite intertwined.”
Abreu told CNBC that she previously wrote about the importance of finally “saying the F-words” at the U.N.’s annual climate conference, arguing that “just a few years ago talking about fossil fuels within the climate convention was invisible, basically.”
Notably, at last year’s COP27 conference in Egypt, more than 80 countries supported a fossil fuel phase-out commitment in the final agreement. The call ultimately failed to gain enough support, but it appeared to reflect growing momentum to recognize fossil fuels the largest contributor to climate change.
Abreu partly attributed the COP27 defeat to parties not being organized enough to win that particular battle.
“This year is different,” she said. “We’re actually seeing that parties are very organized on this front, coming into COP28. So, we have seen in almost every multilateral event that’s taken place in 2023 a huge conversation about the pace and scale of the energy transition.”
“Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be seeing parties negotiating this landing zone of how the energy transition package gets articulated in the final outcomes of COP28,” Abreu said.
‘A firehose of fossil fuels’
A flurry of COP28 announcements on Saturday sought to help decarbonize the energy sector, with nearly 120 governments pledging to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030. Other initiatives launched over the weekend included sizable blocs committing to expand nuclear power and slash methane emissions.
For the U.N. chief, however, preventing the worst effects of the climate crisis hinges on stopping the burning of fossil fuels outright.
“We cannot save a burning planet with a firehose of fossil fuels,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday, as he addressed world leaders in Dubai.
“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate. Phase-out — with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5 degrees.”
The 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature threshold is widely recognized as crucial because so-called tipping points become more likely beyond this level. Tipping points are thresholds at which small changes can lead to dramatic shifts in Earth’s entire life support system.
Toyota USA has refreshed its RAV4 for 2026, and, in a significant step forward for efficiency, Toyota has axed the non-hybrid version of the vehicle. The RAV4 will now only be available in HEV and PHEV versions starting in the 2026 model year.
However, in an act of greenwashing reminiscent of many things Toyota has done before, it’s confusingly calling its vehicles “100% electrified” – despite that every single RAV4 includes a gas engine.
The improvements include new looks and trim lines, including an outdoorsy Woodland model (like the bZ just got) and a higher-performance “GR SPORT” model (though, we must remind everyone, that SUVs are not sportscars and will never be sportscars), and higher power from both PHEV and HEV models.
The PHEV model also boasts improved range, bumped from 42 miles to 50 miles – still lower than we’d typically consider worthy of coverage on Electrek, but the number is at least usable to keep the average driver on electric power for most of their daily driving (if they bother to plug it in).
Some trims will have DC fast charging, and you’ll be able to charge from 10-80% in 30 minutes.
Notably, the RAV4 no longer includes any option for a non-hybrid powertrain. All trims are either hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Previously, it had been anticipated that an EV model might join the lineup, but it looks like Toyota is just sticking with the newly-renamed bZ model for that purpose.
Toyota calls its new RAV4 options “highly efficient electrified powertrains,” but did not specify anticipated EPA mileage numbers for the HEV model, or for the PHEV when operating on gas power. The current RAV4 hybrid gets 39mpg (that’s about 10mpg better than the non-hybrid), and we would imagine something in that ballpark for the updated model.
The 2026 RAV4 will be available in Toyota dealerships across the US “later this year.” Pricing has not yet been announced.
Electrek’s Take
But the real issue here is the use of the word “electrified,” and specifically, “100% electrified.”
Toyota has a long history of deceptive advertising when it comes to its electrification efforts. Its lies have gotten it in trouble before, both in Norway and in the US.
Toyota is also the largest auto industry funder of climate denial, and has consistently ranked as the worst auto industry lobbyist on climate policy worldwide.
So its use of the word “electrified” should be looked at with some skepticism, since the company has used it before to confuse consumers into thinking that its vehicles are more efficient than they really are. For some previous coverage on that, see the FTC complaint filed against Toyota over its false electrification claims.
In this case, Toyota has upped the ante, not just claiming that its vehicles are electrified, but “100% electrified.”
There are a lot of terms that get used confusingly in the EV industry, oftentimes purposefully, in order to greenwash companies’ efforts. EV, PHEV, EREV, FCEV, HEV, BEV, electrified, all-electric, and so on.
But one thing that has heretofore been reserved for models that do not include a gasoline engine is any variation on “all-electric,” “100% electric,” “fully electric” or the like.
So, moving from “electrified” to “100% electrified” certainly seems like intentional phrasing by Toyota here. “Electrified” was already questionable, but “100% electrified” is well over the line.
So despite that we should be happy about a step-change improvement in powertrain availability on the RAV4, and the elimination of the non-hybrid model, Toyota just had to play one of its tricks and remind us why they’re the greatest enemy of electrification in the auto industry (well… save one).
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Elon Musk interviews on CNBC from the Tesla Headquarters in Texas.
CNBC
Elon Musk said Tuesday that artificial intelligence development could run into power generation problems by the middle of next year, as the technology industry builds increasingly large data centers.
Musk told CNBC in an interview that his artificial intelligence startup xAI is planning a gigawatt-size facility outside Memphis, Tenn. He said the facility would be complete in six to nine months. A gigawatt is equivalent to the power capacity of the average nuclear plant in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy.
Musk said AI faces three major limitations as it scales up: chips, transformers and power generation. Transformers are used to ramp down the voltage of electricity produced by power plants so it can used by computers.
“As we solve the transformer shortage, there will be the fundamental electricity generation shortage,” Musk told CNBC’s David Faber. “My guess is people are going to start hitting challenges with power generation maybe by the middle of next year, end of next year.”
Alphabet’s Google unit warned in February that the U.S. is facing a power capacity crisis as the U.S. races against China to achieve dominance in AI. Google started looking into nuclear energy after realizing renewables were potentially causing instability on the grid, said Caroline Golin, Google’s global head of energy market development. The output of wind and solar is dependent on weather conditions.
Google ran into a “very stark reality that we didn’t have enough capacity on the system to power our data centers in the short term and then potentially in the long term,” Golin said at a February conference hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in New York City.
Musk said Tuesday that China is building significantly more power generation than U.S. “China power generation looks like a rocket going to orbit and U.S. power generation is flat,” the Tesla CEO said.
Musk’s xAI is using natural gas turbines to help power its Colossus data center in Memphis. Environmental advocates have accused xAI of violating the Clean Air Act and permitting requirements for “major sources of air pollution” by using gas turbines without mitigation technologies or permits in place.
Utilities such as Dominion Energy told investors on recent earnings calls that they are not seeing evidence of slowing data center demand, despite anxiety in the market that the tech sector might cut back on concerns about of a possible recession. Dominion serves the largest data center market in the world located in northern Virginia.
But Constellation Energy cautioned that although demand is strong, some of the forecasts by utilities are overstated as developers shop their data centers in multiple jurisdictions. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S.
“I just have to tell you, folks, I think the load is being overstated,” CEO Joe Dominguez said on the power company’s first quarter earnings call. “We need to pump the brakes here.”
Hyundai is shutting down a production line at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where the IONIQ 5 and Kona EV are built. Although it’s only for a few days, the move comes as the automaker faces slower exports.
Why is Hyundai pausing EV production in Korea?
For the third time this year, Hyundai is planning to pause production of some of its most popular EV models in Korea.
Industry sources said on May 20 (via Newsis) that Hyundai will shut down Line 2 at its Ulsan plant in Korea, where it builds the IONIQ 5 and Kona Electric. The pause will start on May 27 and end on May 30.
Despite launching a new discount campaign in Korea earlier this month, offering over $4,300 (6 million won) in savings on the IONIQ 5, sales are still lagging. In particular, Hyundai has exported significantly fewer IONIQ 5 models this year.
Through April, Hyundai exported just 9,663 IONIQ 5s, down from 27,476 sold overseas in the same period last year.
Kona EV exports have also fallen sharply. Through April 2025, Hyundai shipped just 3,428 Kona EV models, down 42% from nearly 6,000 last year.
According to the report, Hyundai said in an internal note, “The sluggish sales in the global electric vehicle market have not improved,” adding, “We have made every effort to secure additional orders, but we are currently unable to secure the quantity.”
Following a temporary halt in February and April, this will be Hyundai’s third time pausing EV production in Korea this year.
In a turn of events, Hyundai’s joint venture in China, Beijing Hyundai, announced losses improved by over 100 million won ($72 million) in Q1. With its first custom-tailored electric SUV launching in China later this year, Beijing Hyundai could turn a profit by the end of 2025.
The Korean automaker reported its seventh consecutive record sales month in the US. The IONIQ 5 remains a top seller with over 12,000 units sold through April, up 14% from last year.
IONIQ 6 sales, on the other hand, are down 10% this year, with 4,424 sold through April, and Hyundai doesn’t give a breakdown for Kona EV sales.
Hyundai is also offering generous discounts in the US right now with up to $12,500 in upfront savings on the new three-row IONIQ 9. The 2025 IONIQ 5 is a steal with leases starting at just $209 per month.
Ready to try out Hyundai’s electric vehicles for yourself? We’ve got you covered. You can use our links below to find popular Hyundai EV models in your area.
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