Image source, Getty Images

In charge of COP28 is Sultan al-Jaber - an engineer, businessman and politician from the United Arab Emirates, who chairs the state oil company.

As such, he’s a controversial pick for COP28 president - activist Greta Thunberg called it "completely ridiculous”.

But Jaber’s view is that fossil fuels are the heart of the climate crisis - so it makes sense to persuade that industry from the inside.

The 50-year-old oil exec studied for a PhD at Coventry University in the UK, according to news agency Reuters.

All eyes have been on him here in Dubai, with plenty of speculation over every smile - and side-eye - as people search for clues on how the talks are going.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter, at COP28

Image source, Reuters

The draft deal on fossil fuels was met with fury last night. But a little earlier, a representative for the COP presidency said they released the text to "spark" a conversation, and force countries to reveal their position.

A new text is being worked on now and will be published in the coming hours, according to COP28 director-general Ambassador Majid al-Suwaidi.

I asked him if these talks collapse, won’t it be the presidency who is judged?

“I don’t think so. We are 198 countries, we work through consensus,” he replied.

“We’ve provided the space…the ambition..and the goals. Now they need to step up to the challenge. We will reflect their views in the text,” he added.

The message is clear: over to you, governments.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, at COP28

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking frankly, predicting the outcome of COPs is bit of a game for mugs. But I can sketch out a couple of scenarios as to how this one might play out.

A new proposal. Everyone is waiting on a new draft agreement - likely be published around 18:00 Dubai time (14:00 GMT) by the COP presidency.

Known as the "global stocktake" text, it's the main document that people are trying to agree on here – and the most contentious because of the possibility of ending fossil fuels.

Snap verdict. The text will be rapidly assessed by negotiators to see what changes have been made – is it stronger, weaker, closer to what countries say they need to see?

Delegations will have to decide if they feel it's acceptable, or so far from their goals they just can’t live with it.

Final meeting? Depending on the strength of feeling, the COP28 president Sultan al-Jaber will also have to judge whether he can get the document through a final meeting, where he'll need the consensus of all parties.

And that consensus is not straightforward, according to some participants.

“Consensus cannot be on the basis of individual countries," said Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Bangladesh's climate envoy.

"It has to be on what science says, and that's really where we're starting."

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter, at COP28

The metro to the COP28 climate summit was virtually empty this morning, with none of the usual long queues for the venue under the blazing sun.

It’s just bleary-eyed negotiators and journalists left now. The government delegations are thinning out.

On paper, this finishes in a few hours - but no-one thinks that'll happen. And if we are all still here on Friday, we’ll be sharing the venue with a group of elves arriving for the opening of Dubai’s Winter Wonderland...

In the meantime, there’s a lot left to decide.

Governments and groups of nations met overnight - staying up until 03:00 or 04:00, trying to decide what their red lines are.

Remember, these talks are in jeopardy because countries cannot agree if (or how) the use of coal, oil and gas - should end.

Dulcie Lee
Live reporter, at COP28

Image source, Getty Images

It may be a new day here in Dubai, but the hangover from last night is real.

Close to 200 countries have gathered to decide the world's next steps to tackle climate change - and a sense of hope had been building in the cavernous marble corridors of the conference centre.

That is until last night.

Earlier in the week, draft agreements spoke of a worldwide end to fossil fuels – a global first that would have set a major milestone in tackling climate change.

But all that changed yesterday evening when the COP28 top team floated a new agreement, ditching some of the strongest language.

Groups representing dozens of countries came out against the agreement, arguing that the wording was too weak and there wasn't enough financial help for poorer nations.

Negotiators spent much of the night battling to find a way through the setback.

On the surface, the COP28 team seems calm, with promises to present a new draft soon.

But with time running out, they stress it's up to the countries here to decide whether they commit to a "historic deal". And all 198 countries must agree.

How - and precisely when - this will end is anyone's guess. Our team on the ground will be following it all, so stick with us.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, at COP28

A day of drama and it’s not over yet…

After two weeks of tepid negotiations at COP28, the publication of a draft agreement today lit a fire of fury under this conference.

Gone were the expected words about the "phase out" of fossil fuels, and in their place a menu of options that countries “could” choose from – no shall, should or will – with no obligation on anyone to phase out or even phase down coal, oil or gas.

To say it didn’t land well with a large number of delegates is probably the understatement of the COP so far.

Small island participants were furious, saying they hadn’t been listened to, and that the draft agreement would kill hopes of keeping to a crucial threshold of 1.5C of warming.

Others blamed Saudi Arabia and other states that rely on fossil fuels for intransigence.

The suave Sultan al-Jaber, who’s presiding over the conference, seemed to take the anger in his stride.

He made some soothing noises at a gathering of delegates and then disappeared into the night.

Image source, EPA

No-one is quite sure what happens now.

Country delegations have been meeting and may come up with new proposals for amending the draft.

The COP president Jaber may produce a new version with changes at some point tomorrow.

Alternatively the progressive countries may decide there’s nothing more to be gained and walk away. Right now, we just don’t know how this will play out.

We're pausing our live coverage here - but we'll be back at the first sign of movement.

Dulcie Lee
Live reporter, at COP28

Here in COP28's prefabricated media centre, the din of hundreds of journalists has been replaced by the quiet whirr of the air conditioning - surely a sign the drama is over for tonight?

The conference centre here in Dubai is huge - it takes about 25 minutes to walk from one end to the other - but as the clock passes 23:20, it has largely emptied out.

There's plenty to digest from this evening. When our team were discussing how the day could play out this morning, none of our dozen or so scenarios included a twist like this.

Is this the moment it all falls apart? Our climate editor Justin Rowlatt takes a look here.

We've been chasing reaction to tonight's events from countries who might be happier with the latest wording.

One of those is Saudi Arabia, who has reportedly been blocking strong language on ditching fossil fuels throughout these climate talks. Remember, they're the world's largest producer of oil and gas.

However, we've just been given an answer: No comment.

We're now hearing more from the UK on the draft deal – a spokesperson says it "does not go far enough" and is "disappointing".

"The UK position is clear - there must be a phase out of unabated fossil fuels to meet our climate goals," the statement adds.

Other countries, including small island states and the US and EU earlier voiced their strong criticism to the draft, with the EU climate commissioner saying elements of the deal were "fully unacceptable".

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28

We reported earlier that a minister for the EU said the bloc will walk away from these climate talks if the draft deal doesn't change.

We've just had the full comments from the EU minister, Eamon Ryan, who is also Ireland's environment minister.

He says the EU only received the draft text one hour before tonight's key meeting where delegates were called to discuss the deal.

"We can’t accept the text. That one word 'could' just kills everything," he said. (More on that here.)

"We’ve been making clear in our discussion that the issue of phasing out of fossil fuels is critical," he added.

And he confirmed that the EU would walk away – but that this is not the outcome the world needs because "so much hangs" on getting this COP right.

Oil-producing nations nervous about any deal on fossil fuelspublished at 18:13 Greenwich Mean Time 11 December 2023

18:13 GMT 11 December 2023

Sameer Hashmi
Middle East business correspondent, at COP28

As the drama was unfolding in Dubai this evening, another energy summit has been taking place in the region.

Energy ministers from Opec - a group of oil-exporting countries - are speaking at the Arab Energy Summit in Qatar.

It comes just days after reports emerged that the boss of Opec, Haitham al-Ghais, had urged members of the oil group to reject any COP28 deal that targeted fossil fuels, rather than emissions.

Opec member states, led by the world’s largest exporter Saudi Arabia, hold over 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves. For most Opec members, oil revenue is the main driver of their economies.

This means that any text in the final COP28 agreement could become a question of survival for many Opec nations in the long run.

COP28 host – the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also a member of Opec, but the country’s energy minister is not attending the meeting. It will be tough for the UAE to get a consensus on the issue of phasing out fossil fuels without the support of other Gulf oil producers, especially Riyadh.

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the kingdom won’t agree to a text that calls for the phase-down of fossil fuels.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter in COP28

The reaction we've heard on the latest draft climate deal has been blistering, but there has also been a notable absence of voices from some quarters.

Brandon Wu, director of policy at ActionAid told me: "In private conversations, some developing countries believe the text is fairly balanced, amongst civil society we think its far too weak."

He said some poorer countries do not want to take on "obligations" to phase out fossil fuels without getting financial help from their richer counterparts to make the switch to renewables.

Poorer countries have been burned before by this arrangement. Back in 2009 they were promised $100bn a year by 2020 - three years on from that deadline it's still not clear if that's been delivered.

Georgina Rannard
Climate reporter at COP28 in Dubai

I'm walking around the huge COP28 venue here in Dubai, trying to speak to those who support the new draft agreement put forward by the COP presidency.

Away from the intense typing of journalists in the main halls, dolphins and octopus are being projected onto the ceiling of the spectacular dome at the heart of the Expo Centre.

An impressive light show has illuminated the talks each night and, despite the drama, tonight is no different.

But the vibe at these talks has changed. A sense of confusion, anger, but also resolve as countries look at the latest text. Lots of people are slowly making their way out of the conference, digesting the details.

Heads of the nations' delegations and groups of countries are meeting in the rooms near me - no doubt arguing over the draft deal and deciding what they can - and cannot - accept.

But tucked away there are nations pleased that this draft deal does not tie the world into strong language that would spell a clear end to fossil fuels.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter, at COP28

Amid all the noise, let's remind ourselves what this is about.

Almost 200 countries are negotiating different agreements to curb climate change. One of the main texts provoking anger here in Dubai lays out what the world is going to do on fossil fuels.

The latest draft looks very different from what we saw a couple of days ago. In fact, when the text dropped a few hours ago, our team spent several minutes hunting for key phrases - only to find they'd been cut.

Here's a summary of the main changes:

• There is now no mention of plans to "phase out" of fossil fuels. Rather, the text now says countries "could" reduce production and consumption. This is significantly weaker
• There are now concrete examples of how to reduce emissions from fossil fuels - this is unusual in a UN text
• The issue on how to reference the key threshold of 1.5C appears to be resolved. Keeping global average temperature rises below 1.5C is seen as key to avoiding the most devastating impacts of climate change. The latest text talks of "reaffirming" the need to try and keep rises below this

Emma Calder
Reporting from COP28

Some campaigners have also been criticising the latest draft deal for not going far enough on fossil fuels. The latest deal proposes to "reduce consumption and production" - earlier drafts spoke of a total "phase out".

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, an indigenous woman from a Mbororo pastoralist community in Chad, says the new deal is "very contradictory".

"On one hand, they said they believe in science, they want to stick on 1.5C. On another hand, they delete all the wording of phasing out fossil fuel.

"Reducing is not going to save the lives of peoples."

Is this moment it all falls apart?published at 16:25 Greenwich Mean Time 11 December 2023

16:25 GMT 11 December 2023

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor, at COP28

With the hours ticking down towards the deadline here at the UN climate conference in Dubai, it looked like it was virtually in the bag.

Negotiators and campaigners alike were saying the world was the closest it had ever been to a deal to get rid of the fossil fuels – the main drivers of climate change.

Yes, a few countries were holding out - notably oil producers led by Saudi Arabia, and including Iraq and Bolivia. But it looked like the majority of the world was getting on board.

And if anyone could persuade the Saudis to sign up, surely it was their neighbours, the United Arab Emirates.

Except it didn’t go to plan.

It now looks like the “transformational” deal the COP28 president promised would rival the landmark agreement in Paris in 2015 could be evaporating in the desert sun.

The EU will walk away from these climate talks if the draft agreement doesn't change, a key player in the bloc says, according to the RTE broadcaster.

Eamon Ryan is a ministerial lead for the European Union and also Ireland's environment minister.

It's not the first time the EU delegation has threatened to leave climate talks - the same thing happened last year at COP27.

Esme Stallard
Climate reporter, at COP28

...that's what I heard one delegate say to another as they rushed through the halls here moments ago.

Everyone had been waiting all day for this new text, which lays out the latest proposals for how the world must tackle climate change. Suddenly it lands, and it looks very different.

Remember, all countries must agree to the final deal or it falls apart.

My phone was buzzing relentlessly with different countries, charities and businesses clamouring to give their reaction.

The press aren't allowed in most negotiations, so we rely on "huddles" where dozens of journalists literally huddle round ministers, phones outstretched and heads in armpits, to get the latest.

We've still got a lot of strong reaction to the latest draft agreement on these climate talks.

As a reminder, the option of "phasing out" fossil fuels - essentially ditching them at some point - was taken off the table in this latest round. Instead, the deal now proposes to "reduce consumption and production" of fossil fuels.

Here's a round-up of the latest:

• The US state department says the language on fossil fuels needs to be "substantially strengthened"
• The EU's climate commissioner says the great majority of countries want more on phasing out fossil fuels. And the EU's lead negotiator says there are elements that are "fully unacceptable"
• French officials say they are "disappointed" by the "insufficient" draft
• A representative from the Alliance of Small Island States says "we will not sign our death certificate"

But, before the meeting, the head of the climate talks here in Dubai, Sultan al-Jaber, said the text reflected his ambitions and called it a "huge step forward".

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, at COP28

And after a whirlwind past hour, the meeting now been paused and hundreds of people are drifting out of the plenary hall.

There’s a lot of unhappiness among country delegates here with draft agreement as it stands.

“Key elements have to change,” said Irish minister Eamon Ryan.

Heads of country delegations will meet later on to consider next steps - this could run for a while yet...