PM says Cop26 put nail in coal coffin
THE Prime Minister said yesterday that Cop26 “sounded the death knell for coal power”, but his delight at any progress made at the climate summit in Glasgow is “tinged with disappointment”.
Boris Johnson hailed the “truly historic” outcome of the summit, describing the agreement as “gamechanging”, but acknowledged not all countries were willing to meet the level of ambition expected by many.
Mr Johnson insisted the aim of keeping global temperatures from rising above 1.5C is “still alive”. He added that most of Western Europe and North America have been persuaded to pull the plug on financial support for all overseas fossil fuel projects by this time next year.
“When you add all that together, it is beyond question, Glasgow has sounded the death knell for coal power,” he said at a Downing Street press conference last night.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and it’s just one of many to emerge from Cop26. 90% of the world’s economy is now following our lead here in the UK by committing to net-zero, ending their contribution to climate change altogether.
“I know it’s tempting to be cynical and to dismiss these types of summits as talking shops, but we came to Cop with a call for real action on coal, cars, cash and trees, and real action is exactly what we got.” However, he added: “Of course, my delight at this progress is tinged with disappointment.
“Those for whom climate change is already a matter of life and death, who can only stand by as their islands are submerged, their farm land turned to desert, their homes battered by storms, they demanded a high level of ambition from this summit.
“While many of us were willing to go there, that wasn’t true of everybody. Sadly, that’s the nature of diplomacy. 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’s ultimately their decision to make and they must stand by it. But for all that, we can be immensely
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Telephone: proud of what has been achieved by [Cop26 President] Alok Sharma and his team.”
Mr Johnson said the world is “undeniably heading in the right direction”, adding: “Even the most pessimistic commentator will tell you that 1.5 degrees, that goal of restricting the growth in temperatures to 1.5 degrees, is still alive. Now the work continues to make that ambition a reality.”
Mr Johnson said there is still a long journey ahead and “very little time to complete it”, but he added: “Cop26 has shown that we can do this. We can end our reliance on coal and fossil fuels.
“We can put the brakes on runaway climate change, and we can preserve our unique planet for generations to come.”
The summit’s final accord has come in for criticism, with shadow business and energy secretary Ed Miliband warning “keeping 1.5 degrees alive is frankly in intensive care”, with a “chasm” between what was agreed in Glasgow and what still needs to be done to slash emissions.
Mr Sharma (pictured left) 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 11th 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 some European and vulnerable countries.
Mr Sharma said he would have “preferred stronger language” in relation to coal, but argued that
Cop26 had “moved the goalposts in terms of our generation and future generations”.
Mr Sharma said what now needs to be done is to make sure that commitments made at the summit are honoured and delivered on.
Yesterday, Mr Johnson claimed the watered-down language in the summit pact’s coal pledges does not “make that much of a difference”.