The Cop28 climate summit has ended with a historic agreement to move away from fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity.

       But the deal was criticised for loopholes that would allow countries to continue to emit, after pressure to soften language from oil and gas producing nations.

       The agreement was met with applause from nations at the meeting in Dubai after it was gaveled through 24 hours after the summit was supposed to end.

       It is the first time that a transition away from fossil fuels has been explicitly mentioned in a final text at the end of one of the annual summits.

       A clear “phase-out” of fossil fuels, which the EU and US had wanted, was not in the text, which instead calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels …in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.

       The softer language could give oil and gas nations leeway to continue producing if they believe they can use carbon capture technology in the future.

       But the deal was none the less welcomed by the UK, EU and US.

       Graham Stuart, the UK’s climate minister, thanked Sultan Al-Jaber, the UAE Cop28 president, referring to the longstanding climate target to limit global warming to 1.5C.

       “My thanks to Cop president Sultan Al-Jaber for steering us to this historic agreement, keeping 1.5 alive and specifying fossil fuel use for the first time ever,” he said.

       Wopke Hoekstra, European Union commissioner for climate action, said: “Humanity has finally done what is long, long, long overdue.”

       But the deal, which also called for a tripling of renewables and a doubling of energy efficiency, was swiftly followed by criticism from small island nations, who are the most at risk from sea level rises, and who said the text had been agreed while they were out of the room.

       “We see a litany of loopholes in this text that are a major concern to us,” said a statement from the Alliance of Small Island States about a draft version of the agreement.

       “This process has failed us,” said Anne Rasmussen, the lead negotiator for Samoa, who represents the alliance.

       The agreement, which came after tense final hours at the talks, will allow the UAE hosts to claim success at the annual climate summit.

       Sultan Al-Jaber said the UAE had delivered “a robust action plan to keep 1.5C in reach”, a reference to the goal of the Paris Agreement.

       “It is a historic package to accelerate climate action. It is the UAE consensus,” he said.

       But he said “any 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 actions.”

       Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, hailed the agreement, saying: “For the first time, the outcome recognizes the need to transition away from fossil fuels.”

       But he warned that it was “climate action lifeline, not a finish line”.

       “Whilst we didn’t fully turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this is clearly the beginning of the end,” he said.

       ‘Earth is down but not out’

       Responding to the Cop28 agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal of the WWF conservation group said: “The Earth is down but not out, as countries agree to transition away from fossil fuels, but fall short of consensus on the full phase-out of coal, oil and gas at Cop28.

       “Nevertheless, a decision to transition away from fossil fuels is a significant moment. After three decades of UN climate negotiations, countries have at last shifted the focus to the polluting fossil fuels driving the climate crisis.

       “This outcome must signal the beginning of the end for the fossil fuel era.”

       Joab Okanda, of global poverty charity Christian Aid, said: “We may not have driven the nail into the coffin here at Cop28 but the end is coming for dirty energy.

       “But there is a gaping hole on finance to actually fund the transition from dirty to clean energy in developing countries. Without that, we risk the global shift being much slower.

       “We now need to see rich countries following up their warm words about wanting a fossil fuel phase-out with actions to actually bring it about and end their use of coal, oil and gas by the end of this decade.”

       It came as the UK was warned that it would miss its 2030 decarbonisation targets without “an immediate step change” in policy, the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) has said.

       The Government should make it easier for renewables to connect to the electricity grid, improve home energy efficiency, roll out more electric vehicles and provide financial support to industry to help it decarbonise, UKERC said.