UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the summit as “truly historic” and “game-changing”, but he acknowledged that some countries had not raised their ambitions high enough.
At a Downing Street press conference on Sunday evening, Johnson said that Glasgow had “sounded the death knell for coal power”.
He added: “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.”
The first draft of a deal “to accelerate the phasing-out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels” was later watered down with more focus on scaling up clean energy facilities and only a cursory mention of reducing fossil fuel consumption alongside this.
Coal is one of the most significant contributors to carbon emissions and is the most polluting fossil fuel when it comes to carbon emissions. In recent months, China - which emits the most...