A fragile agreement Inside the final hours of Cop26

A sweary delegates trudged into the Scottish Event Campus on the banks of the Clyde last Saturday, few realised what a mountain they still had to climb.

-  Fiona Harvey

The Cop26 climate talks were long past their official deadline of 6pm on the Friday, but there were strong hopes that the big issues had been settled. A deal was tantalisingly close.

The “package” on offer was imperfect - before countries even turned up in Glasgow they were meant to have submitted plans to cut global carbon output by nearly half by 2030 to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Although most had done so, the plans were not strong enough and analysis found they would lead to a disastrous 2.4C of heating.

The gap between targets and the emissions cuts that scientists say are needed had been known before the talks. What was crucial in Glasgow was to find a way to closing it, which involved forcing some swift revisions. Finally, after two weeks of wrangling, a "ratchet” had been settled, with countries agreeing to return next year, and the year after, with amendments.

The Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, approached the podium, ready to push through an agreement between nearly 200 countries. But there was a last-minute hitch. What followed reduced Sharma almost to tears. China and India wanted to reopen a vital clause that enjoined countries to "phase out" coal-fired power generation. No dates were given for the phase-out, and no more commitment than "accelerating efforts towards the phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.

Abandoning coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is essential to staying within 1.5C. The International Energy Agency has said 40% of the world's existing 8,500 coal-fired power plants must be closed by 2030 and no new ones built to stay within the 1.5C limit.