To me this is such a minor thing, that the whole topic, currently widely discussed in media, looks like a distraction from the overall shit show COP28 was.

COP28, with the before leaked documents, that it will be used as platform for the UAE to negotiate new fossil fuel deals behind closed doors. And Sultan Al Jaber saying there is no scientific basis for phasing out fossil fuels to keep global warming under a critical threshold.

To ‘phase down’ and ‘phase out’ is the same thing, just with two different time points selected. The event is a fossil fuel reduction and once you phase down long enough, you reach the phase out. It’s like a kindergarten group debating a common statement, if later in life they will be teenager or adults. Both is true, one just sooner, the other later. Arguing about the wording detail in a non-binding statement is so silly to me, but there is a whole wave of media publication about it.

The more important CO28 topics from two days ago are gone though.