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THE 2023 United Nations Climate Change Confer- ence or Conference of the Par- ties of the UNFCCC, more com- monly known as COP 28, held at Expo City, Dubai took a day longer to be concluded because writing a text acceptable to all participants was not an easy task. After two weeks of intensive debate, diplomats from nearly 200 countries reached a sweep- ing agreement that explicitly called for 'transitioning away from fossil fuels.' The deal calls on countries to stop adding car- bon dioxide to the atmosphere entirely by mid-century; to triple the amount of renewable energy installed around the world by 2030; and to slash emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas. The global pact was the first in the history of COP summits to explicitly mention the necessity to shift away from every type of fossil fuels. It still received wide- spread criticism due to the deci- sion not to include a clear com- mitment to fossil fuel phase-out or, at least, phase-down. In fact, the deal does not compel countries to take action, and no timescale is specified. The agreement includes glob- al targets to triple the capacity of renewable energy like wind and solar power, and to double the rate of energy efficiency im- provements, both by 2030. It also calls on countries to accelerate use of low - and zero - emission technologies like carbon capture and storage. The decision was a compro- mise, but it is still an impor- tant one. Many have said that it sends the signal that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end, which is something one cannot imagine COP doing, even up to five years ago. Oil industry executives largely backed the agreement, which does not re- quire countries to take specific actions. This, of course, is its Achilles heel. European leaders and many of the nations most vulnerable to climate-fueled extreme weath- er were urging language that called for a complete "phase out" of fossil fuels. That was in direct contrast with the position held by major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia. In the end, the middle ground was found – even though it left some countries, particularly islands who are threatened by a rise in sea level - deeply dissatisfied. In fact, many island leaders said that they didn't even have a chance to offer changes or relay concerns before Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati oil executive pre- siding over the conference, de- clared it adopted by consensus. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the front runner for the Repub- lican presidential nomination, said that if elected, he would re- nege on a $3 billion US pledge – announced at the conference by US Vice President Kamala Harris – to a global fund meant to help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to climate change. It is remarkable that it took 28 of these annual conferences on climate change before gov- ernments were willing to name the elephant in the room: the burning of fossil fuels which is the main driver of the increase of average temperatures around the globe. Before, it even started, the con- ference was widely criticised, both regarding the leader of the summit, as well as the choice of the United Arab Emirates as the host country, given its dubious environmental record and role as a major producer of fossil fu- els. The fact that Sultan Al Jaber who is the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Compa- ny (ADNOC) was appointed president of the Conference it- self, gave rise to concerns over an obvious conflict of interest. Climate campaigners have also said the Conference resembled a trade fair as business people far outnumbered government officials. There were more than 90,000 registered attendees, a record number. Large corpora- tions – including banks, oil and gas companies – and consul- tancies were at the summit, as well as the climate tech startups. Leaked documents appeared to show plans for the UAE to use the conference to strike new fos- sil fuel deals with other nations, sparking international outcry. Last Wednesay, Al-Jaber an- nounced that a final compro- mise agreement between the countries involved had been reached, with the deal calling on all nations to 'transition away' from fossil fuels 'in a just, orderly and equitable manner', in order to prevent the worst outcome of climate change, while also 'ac- celerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net ze- ro by 2050 in keeping with the science'. Many groups – including the US, the UK, the EU and some countries that are most vulner- able to climate change – had wanted a more ambitious com- mitment to 'phase out' fossil fuels. The EU negotiating team at the Conference included the Maltese minister responsible for energy, Miriam Dalli. According to the UN, the 1.5C warming limit, which was agreed at COP 21 in Paris, has driven 'near-universal climate action'. This has helped bring down the level of warming the world can expect – even though the world is still not acting at an- ywhere near the pace needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Ultimately, the success of COP28 will be determined by the changes the world puts into practice in the years ahead. Was it Hamas? Before its attack on 7 October, Hamas maintained tight op- erational security. The assault blindsided Israel's spies, and seems to have surprised even Hamas's political leaders. But did someone know enough to profit? According to The Econ- omist, a new paper by Robert Jackson Jr, a former commis- sioner of America's Securities and Exchange Commission and Joshua Mitts of Columbia Uni- versity suggests so. The authors' most strik- ing finding is a surge in short sales – actually bets that a se- curity's price will fall – of an exchange-traded fund (etf) listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'eis', which tracks an index of Israeli shares. In September, an average of 1,581 shares a day of 'eis' were sold short, representing 17% of the daily total trading volume. On 2 October, five days before the attacks, a whopping 227,820 shares were shorted, represent- ing 99% of total volume. Rather than reflecting a sour- ing of market sentiment, the increase in activity seems to have come from just two trades. Then, on the first trading day after the attack, standard 'long' transactions outnumbered short sales by a similar number of shares (248,009). If these trades were made by the same investor, they would correspond to a $1m profit. Was it Hamas who did it? 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 DECEMBER 2023 OPINION Did the world cop it? Michael Falzon micfal45@gmail.com COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, right, and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell embrace in Dubai