Climate talks call for a transition away from fossil fuels. Is that enough?

For the first time in its history, the United Nations climate conference concluded with a call to transition away from fossil fuels. But not all of the nearly 200 countries present at the meeting, known as COP28, were happy with the final agreement. Critics of the deal had instead called for a clear path towards phasing out fossil fuels and pointed out a "litany of loopholes" in the final text. And the meeting's president, Sultan al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, faced criticism for remarks that downplayed the importance of phasing out oil and gas.

This episode, we look at the tensions and breakthroughs of the conference — and how far behind we are in limiting the devastating impacts that could be on the way.

You can find more of NPR's reporting on COP28 here and here.

Have questions about this year's climate talks? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might feature your answer on a future episode!

This episode was produced by Chloee Weiner. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Julia Simon and Lauren Sommer checked the facts. The audio engineer was Josh Newell.