By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) -Countries are set to vote at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday on a pledge to phase out fossil fuels to fight climate change, with diplomats warning that Gulf states and others may renege on previous commitments.
The vote, on a broader motion on acting against global warming, follows the council in 2021 recognising access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right.
But it has exposed divisions among the 47 members after the Marshall Islands, one of the most countries most vulnerable to rising sea levels, with average elevation of just 2 meters, made an amendment to the motion to mention exiting fossil fuels.
With that, the vote has become a test of countries’ willingness to eventually exit the oil age after states agreed to do so at the COP28 climate summit in December 2023.
The council’s decisions, often reached by consensus without a vote, are not legally binding but help shape global standards. It is not clear whether there will be a majority in favour of the language later on Tuesday.
“It is incomprehensible that a resolution purporting to advance the protection of human rights from the effects of climate change would fail to mention the need to transition from fossil fuels …,” Doreen Debrum, ambassador of the Marshall Islands to the U.N. in Geneva, told Reuters ahead of the vote.
The move is supported by Australia, Britain and Germany and a group of small island states including Samoa and Vanuatu.
But oil producing countries including Saudi Arabia and voting member Kuwait voiced opposition to the phrasing in negotiations, according to three diplomats. Riyadh called instead for “multiple pathways” to reduce emissions.
There was no immediate response to Reuters’ requests for comment from Saudi Arabia’s international media offices or the foreign ministry of Kuwait. Their diplomatic missions in Geneva did not immediately respond.
Sébastien Duyck, human rights and climate campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, called the vote a “litmus test for governments”.
The move comes as leaders on climate action, such as the European Union, face criticism from campaigners that they are scaling back policies even as they deal with the consequences of a blistering early summer heatwave.
The U.S., which has withdrawn from climate action under President Donald Trump, will not participate formally in the vote since disengaging with the council this year.
(Reporting by Emma Farge;Editing by Alison Williams)
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