Cop26 news: Boris Johnson says pact ‘sounds death knell for coal’ but admits disappointment at pledges

Cop26 president Alok Sharma has denied the climate pact agreed by world leaders was a failure and defended the “historic” language on a commitment to reduce coal dependence, writes Adam Forrest.

“This is the first time ever that we have got language about coal in a Cop decision – I think that is absolutely historic,” the UK minister told BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.

Asked if the pact amounted to a failure to meet ambitions, Mr Sharma said: “I wouldn’t described what we did yesterday as a failure. It’s a historic achievement. We kept 1.5 in reach.”

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that target was “definitely alive” after the conference.

She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “We are very far from that goal but we did manage to get together this big package of different decisions that will allow us and gives us very, very specific direction on what we need to work on in order to get there.”

She said the difference between 1.5C and 2.4C of warming, which the Climate Action Tracker forecasts the current pledges would result in, is “the survival of millions and millions of people and species”.

The Glasgow Pact must be the start for more ambition and climate action, according to Ms Espinosa.

She welcomed the historic - if watered down - move against coal in the new Glasgow Pact, calling it a “very difficult issue”.

She said: “I would like to underline that the huge step forward in our negotiations was the fact that for the first time in this context we mentioned coal and fossil fuels.

“Before, it had not been possible, of course, because... we have to be very conscious that there are millions and millions of people that depend on fossil fuel industries, and in terms of coal there are many people, especially venerable and poor people, that also depend on that as a source of energy.

“So, on the one hand, we have clarity that this is a very big source of emissions and we need to get rid of that.

“On the other hand, we need to also balance out the social consequences for so many people around the world, especially in the poor countries.”

PA

Greta Thunberg dismissed the Cop26 climate summit as more “blah, blah, blah” after the extended talks finally brought to a close with the agreement of the Glasgow Climate Pact on Saturday.

Taking to Twitter to express her disdain, the Swedish climate activist urged protestors “never give up” - saying “the real work continues outside these halls.”

It comes after China and India made a last-minute intervention to water down language in the final text on coal. The language was changed to “phase down” on unabated coal power instead of the stronger “phase out”.

Several countries made angry statements following the sudden intervention. Mexico called it a “non-inclusive and non-transparent process”.

She wrote: The #COP26 is over. Here’s a brief summary: Blah, blah, blah.

“But the real work continues outside these halls. And we will never give up, ever.”

In case you missed it...

Boris Johnson and Alok Sharma will be grilled over the climate deal agreed in Glasgow at a press conference later on Sunday.

The prime minister and the Cop26 president will be answering questions about the global pact at Downing Street at 5pm.

Mr Johnson is facing accusations he “undermined” his own climate conference minister by failing to back him up with ambitions UK commitments.

The pair also face criticism over a dramatic last-minute intervention which saw India and China change the wording of the final deal so coal power generation would be “phased down” rather than “phased out”.

Boris Johnson has been accused of “undermining” his own climate conference minister Alok Sharma by failing to back him up with ambitions UK commitments at Cop26.

Labour said the target of keeping global warming within 1.5C was in “intensive care” following the agreement reached by world leaders at the end of the Glasgow summit.

The opposition claimed the prime minister had left his Cop26 president in a weak position, because of the government’s decision to cut overseas aid and failure to stop the Cambo oilfield project.

Adam Forrest has the full story here:

Success or failure, or both? The outcome of Cop26, with its last-minute compromise on running down the use of coal, will be picked over in the coming weeks.

While it is a temptation to give rapid judgements, one of the overriding lessons from previous climate summits is that what happens in the next year is more important than the wording of the communiqué at the end of the meeting, writes Hamish McRae.

As the dust settles after Glasgow, the world needs to face a difficult truth: 1.5 degrees is in intensive care and we’ve got 12 months to show we can save it, writes Ed Miliband. Cop26 made modest progress in tackling the climate crisis but modest progress is not the transformation we need.