Negotiators from almost 200 countries clinched a deal that seeks to keep the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement alive, breaking new ground in the fight against climate change but punting the hardest decisions into the future.
After two weeks of often fraught United Nations COP26 talks, delegates agreed to reduce the use of coal, end "inefficient” fossil-fuel subsidies and boost their climate targets sooner. The Glasgow Climate Pact puts the world, barely, on a path to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times — the stretch goal of the Paris Agreement and the level scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic warming.
"We can now say with credibility that we have kept 1.5 degrees alive,” COP26 President Alok Sharma said as he chaired the closing session. "But its pulse is weak and it will only survive if we keep our promises and translate commitments into rapid action."