COP26: World leaders agree climate change deal but coal phaseout text 'watered down'

China and India stymied commitment to end coal use and fossil fuel subsidies

Last minute objections from India and China halted a commitment to end coal use and subsidies for fossil fuels as countries reached a deal on the climate crisis to keep within reach the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5ºC.

The Glasgow deal, reached after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations, included rules for a global carbon market and financial commitments to help countries adapt to climate change.  "The approved texts are a compromise. They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. "They take important steps, but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions." Rathbone Greenbank's Day: 'We need to try harder, but we are on t...