COP28 has made it over the line with agreement on the text to "transition away" from fossil fuels, which deserves the expression ‘historic’ but leaves some room for disappointment.

Allowances for the development of carbon capture, gas as a transition fuel and fossil subsidies are all left vaguely in the background and some countries feel the announcement goes not nearly far enough.

But, following the near breakdown of negotiations, the fact a deal has been struck, at in a major oil producing nation at that, and that this agreement includes an implicit direction to a future of no fossil fuel use is indeed a significant step.

Taken together with other pledges made at the summit, such as the call to triple renewables deployment and a loss and damage fund, this really is something of milestone on the march to net-zero. Not that everyone will be happy, and even as he heralded the final success of COP28, Sultan Al Jaber sounded a note of caution: “Now, we can truly say that we united, we acted, and we delivered. Friends… here let me sound a word of caution. An agreement is only as good as its implementation. We are what we do, not what we say. We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible action. If we unite in action, we can have a profoundly positive effect on all our futures.”

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