THE Anglican Communion’s delegation at COP 28 has queried the robustness of the final decisions of the conference, while welcoming what it regards as progress in certain areas.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, the Anglican Communion delegation — which included the Primate of Central America, the Most Revd Julio Murray, and the Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Dr Hosam Naoum — said that the commitment to a transition away from fossil fuels was “highly welcome”, but noted that the agreement “stops short of committing to phase fossil fuels out”.

“While this decision is low in ambition, we recognise that it offers hope in different pathways for energy transition based on different countries’ circumstances. This aligns with calls from developing economies which need transitional fuels to meet the huge gap in their energy access and security,” they wrote.

The statement says that the agreements to build resilience in vulnerable communities offer “much weaker commitments to supporting the most vulnerable in adapting to the impact of climate change than we had called for”, and vows continued advocacy on behalf of those “most vulnerable to climate shocks including for many Anglican communities across Africa and the Pacific”.

Some progress has been made on establishing a loss-and-damage fund, but the sums need to be larger and the contributions mandated rather than voluntary, to “restore trust and reduce inequality”, the statement concludes.