Boris Johnson has hailed the progress made in the Cop26 climate summit as ‘historic’ in sounding the ‘death knell’ for coal power – but said he had hoped it would go further.
During a press conference this evening, he admitted that he had some disappointment following the talks in Glasgow.
But he praised commitments made, insisting that t
he goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels was ‘still alive’.He said: ‘It is beyond question that Glasgow has sounded the death knell for coal power. It’s a fantastic achievement.’
The summit was never able to halt climate change in its tracks and was still not the ‘full solution’ but has delivered as much as hoped, he said.
Summit President Alok Sharma earlier insisted that the two-week summit, which closed yesterday after requiring more than 24 hours of extra time, had ‘kept 1.5C within reach’.
The former business secretary admitted that the final few hours had proved ’emotional’ after investing time into understanding the global impact of climate change over the past two years.
Mr Sharma was close to tears on a couple of occasions during an hours-long final plenary, including as he apologised to delegates for the way a change to the pact’s wording on fossil fuels was brought about at the eleventh hour.
Following a push led by China, and backed up by India, it was decided to change the language from accelerating the ‘phase out’ of unabated coal, to ‘phase down’, a move that prompted angry responses from European and vulnerable countries.
Mr Sharma said it was a ‘first’ to have coal commitments written into a UN climate text, but he conceded he had wanted the pledge to go further.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that China and India would have to ‘explain themselves’ after representatives from countries most at risk of rising seas and changing weather patterns expressed ‘disappointment’ on the floor of the summit at the move.
Earlier today a leading expert warned that the target of keeping global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is ‘dead’ following the Cop26 climate conference.
Professor of Economics and Energy Policy Sir Dieter Helm said the key players were ‘not at the table’ for the summit, meaning people were ‘deluded’ if they thought the target was still in reach.
It comes after a key scientific report from Climate Action Tracker said the world is on course for 2.4°C of warming by the end of the century – 0.9°C higher than scientists say is safe and a difference which many island and vulnerable nations fear is a death sentence.
The world has already warmed by 1.1°C since pre-industrial times.
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