Cop26 president declares ‘fragile win’ for climate despite watered-down coal pledges – live updates

That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, reporting to you from Sydney, Australia.

Nations will be asked to return next year to strengthen their targets on emissions cuts, which are so far inadequate, and to accelerate the phase-out of coal power and fossil fuel subsidies.

Make sure to follow along with all our Cop26 developments as reactions will no doubt continue to pour in.

Mexico has voiced its disappointment at the new agreement, saying they were “sidelined” in the deal.

“We believe we have been side-lined in a non-transparent and non-inclusive process,” the nation’s envoy Camila Isabel Zepeda Lizama said in a statement to Reuters.

“We all have remaining concerns but were told we could not reopen the text … while others can still ask to water down their promises.”

However, the north American country said they would let the revised agreement stand.

India’s last-minute revision to reject a clause calling for the “phase out” of coal-fired power has been supported by the nation’s environment and climate minister.

Bhupender Yadav said the revision reflected the “national circumstances of emerging economies.”

“We are becoming the voice of the developing countries,” he told Reuters, saying the pact had “singled out” coal but kept quiet about oil and natural gas.

“We made our effort to make a consensus that is reasonable for developing countries and reasonable for climate justice,” he said, alluding to the fact that rich nations historically have emitted the largest share of greenhouse gases.

Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change, has described the deal as “not perfect” but acknowledged elements of the agreement are “a lifeline” for the country.

“This Package is not perfect. The coal change and a weak outcome on loss and damage are blows,” she said. “But it is real progress and elements of the Glasgow Package are a lifeline for my country.”

Stege has pushed for stronger climate action by campaigning with the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), a grouping at the UN talks comprising many of the poorest and most vulnerable developing countries.

“We are a small nation, but we have moral authority – our position on the frontline gives us that,” she said. “We need to raise our voice, as these changes will affect the whole world in time.”

Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama has said the 1.5C target leaves Glasgow “battered, bruised, but alive”.

The leader thanked Pacific negotiators for their “heroic effort” at Cop26 to secure a path away from coal and fossil fuel subsidies in the final deal.

“The compromise we’ve struck will only count if nations now deliver,” he added.

Canada’s minister of environment and climate change has pledged to do more.

“We know we need to do more and that the world needs to do more. Canadians gave us a mandate to go further and faster in our fight against climate change and there is no doubt that we have our work cut out for us,” Steven Guilbeault said in a statement.

“As someone who has been at this for almost 3 decades, I will say that we haven’t and won’t be able to win every single battle in the fight against climate change. But I want Canadians to know that I have never seen more momentum or desire to beat climate change.

“The public and private sectors are accelerating their actions Canada is at the forefront and countries are working to keep 1.5C within reach. We can and we will pass down a planet to our kids and grandkids that is in better shape than how we found it. The fight continues in earnest and Canada will keep pushing.”

What is ‘loss and damage’ and is it included in the final deal?

The bitterly fought-over issue of compensation for poor countries over the destruction wreaked by the climate crisis, otherwise known as “loss and damage“, did not make it into the final deal.

Vulnerable and poor countries, which did little to cause the climate crisis, sought a commitment from rich nations to compensate them for this damage.

Although the deal did make some headway on the demands that wealthy countries responsible for most emissions pay up, developed countries have essentially just agreed to continue discussions on the topic.

The deal, for example “urges developed country Parties to at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country Parties from 2019 levels by 2025.”

Activist groups respond, dismissing the deal as “weak” and “cunningly curated”.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: “It’s meek, it’s weak and the 1.5C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending – and that matters.

“While the deal recognises the need for deep emissions cuts this decade, those commitments have been punted to next year. Young people who’ve come of age in the climate crisis won’t tolerate many more outcomes like this. Why should they when they’re fighting for their futures?”

Tanya Steele, chief executive at WWF, said: “This summit has seen the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C become the North Star guiding us all but a clear pathway is far from certain and we still have a long way to go.”

Gabriela Bucher, international executive director of Oxfam, said: “Clearly some world leaders think they aren’t living on the same planet as the rest of us. It seems no amount of fires, rising sea levels or droughts will bring them to their senses to stop increasing emissions at the expense of humanity.”

Rachel Kennerley, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The road to 1.5 just got harder when these talks should have cleared the way to making it a whole lot easier.

“The UK government cunningly curated announcements throughout this fortnight so that it seemed rapid progress was being made … Here we are though, and the Glasgow get-out clause means that leaders failed to phase out fossil fuels and the richest countries won’t pay historic climate debt.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said that while the final text of the agreement is far from perfect, the message to Australia and other fossil fuel producers is clear.

“The momentum is in the right direction,” Ritter said.

“The task ahead is relentless pressure on the fossil fuel corporations and reckless governments such as Australia’s.”