NEW DELHI: Calls to stop burning fossil fuels at the United Nations’ Climate Ambition Summit were resounding and emphatic and the gathering laid bare the intent of nations unwilling to confront the central issue, climate policy experts said on Thursday.

They also said the major emitting nations’ reluctance to act on climate crisis is disrespectful and fatal and must be called out.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday highlighted two key aspects -- the conspicuous absence of leaders from major emitter nations and a unanimous call by attending leaders to phase out fossil fuels. Notable omissions included leaders from the US, the UK, China, Japan and France. Among the top carbon emitters, only the European Union received an invitation. The leaders who participated in the summit exhibited a unanimous resolve to put an end to the era of fossil fuels.

Harjeet Singh, the head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, said, “At the Climate Ambition Summit, the world heard an unequivocal message -- we are in the midst of a climate emergency and fossil fuels are its chief culprit.”

Mohamed Adow, the director of Kenya-based think-tank Powershift Africa, noted a departure from typical political agendas at such summits -- the leaders with poor climate records, including the US and the UK, found themselves sidelined.

“For decades, fossil fuels have been a taboo word. Thankfully, we are now saying the ‘f-word’. Sadly, because politicians refused to acknowledge the fossil-fuel elephant in the room, it has defecated on the floor, and we need to clean it up fast. That is why we need a fossil fuel phaseout date at COP28 this December,” he said.