British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered the concluding remarks on the COP26 summit tagged its outcome as a “game-changing agreement” that sounded the “death knell for coal power” on Sunday. The UK leader spoke alongside Alok Sharma, the President of the climate summit.
The deal, which was finalised on Saturday, was “beyond question” a significant step to tackle climate change as multiple countries– mainly in North America and Western Europe– decided to terminate all financial support for all foreign projects linked to fossil fuels, Johnson said in the statement, according to reports from Associated Press.
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However, Johnson added that his delight at the progress on tackling climate change “was tinged with disappointment”, a statement that cryptically pointed fingers at countries that disagreed on limiting coal-related activities.
The Glasgow Climate pact reportedly experienced a major policy shift during negotiations and ended up using watered-down terminology like “phasing down” coal usage instead of “phasing out.”
Ending coal is seen as the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which cause the Earth to warm up and produce rising seas and more extreme weather including droughts, storms and wildfires.
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In the joint press conference held on Sunday, the British Prime Minister said, “It is an immense thing to get a commitment from 190 countries to phase down or phase out coal. The direction of travel is pretty much the same”, according to reports from Associated Press.
He added, “We can lobby, we can cajole, we can encourage, but we cannot force sovereign nations to do what they do not wish to do. It is ultimately their decision to make and they must stand by it.”
He and conference President Alok Sharma both underlined that the Glasgow Climate Pact was the first time that coal had been mentioned in United Nations climate agreements.
(With AP inputs)
